FORCE AND NATURE.




Ik 1;




FORCE AND NATUREL.
ATTRACTION AND REPULSION:
THE RADICAL PRINCIPLES
OF ENERGY, DISCUSSED IN THEIR RELATIONS TO PHYSICAL
AND MORPHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS,
BY
CHARLES FREDERICK WINSLOW, MoD.
J. B. LIPPINCOTT  &  CO.
1869.
['The Right of Trransltion? and  Reproducttion is rcservedl.l




LONDON:
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,
BREAD STREET HILL.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
CHARLES FREDERICK  WINSLOW, M.D.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Eastern District of Pennsylvania.




TO
AND TO
1t B   itufifit^  tR
THE FOLLOWING PAGES
ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
LONDON, August 1868.








CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY.............   1
CHAPTER I.
SPACE...............  33
CHAPTER  II.
MATTER,..............                       41
CHAPTER  III.
INERTIA, FORCE, AND MIND..........    46
CHAPTER IV.
MOLECULES.............    51
CHAPTER V.
MOLECULAR FORCE........    54
CHAPTER VI.
UNION AND INSEPARABILITY OF MATTEIR AND FORCE         5




viii                        CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE-ATTRACTION...          60
CHAPTER  VIII.
NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE-REPULSION.       73
CHAPTER IX.
COSMICAL REPULSION.........    122
CHAPTER X.
MECHANICAL FORCE...            248
CHAPTER XI.
CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.... 399
APPENDIX........477
INDEX.............   485




FORCE AND NATURE.
INTRODUCTORY.
1.
THE history of speculative thought and of solid scientific
acquirements is well known. The publication of Newton's
"Principia" first woke the slumbers of the scholastic world,
aroused the mathematicians of various countries to new and
great themes of contemplation, and immediately opened fields
for numerical researches in all cosmical directions.  These
themes and these fields have continually extended in virtue
of successive discoveries; and the laws of gravitation are
found to be as correct in principle as they are universal in
their application. Certain facts and phenomena of great
physical importance appear, however, to have been strangely
lost sight of, from age to age, by the most illustrious menrather, it seems to me, on account of the magnitude and
splendour of the developments to which a knowledge of the
laws of gravitation has led, than to any natural tendency of
cultivated thought consciously to neglect or avoid fields of
fruitful inquiry.  Nevertheless, the anomalies not seldom
B




2                  F3FORCE AND NATURE.
encountered in nature, or detected in consequence of the
application of the mathematics to physical facts and observations (the latter frequently demanding treatment through
empirical formulse, and even resisting every form of analysis)
have often excited a query in the minds of many astronomers
and physicists whether some subtle principle antagonistic to
attraction does not also exist as an all-pervading element in
nature, and so operate as in some way to disturb the action
of what is generally considered by the scientific world an
unique force.  The aim of the following work is to set forth
this subject in its broadest aspects, and in such a manner as
to invite thereto the attention of the learned, and particularly
that of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science-since to that Institution I am indebted for many
facts of transcendent importance to philosophy, and for those
systematic observations which, combined with my own personal travels and researches, have enabled me to undertake
and elaborate the discussions, the results of which I now
entrust to their consideration and the final judgment of the
scientific men of this and other countries.
I have often thought that Newton would have extended
his own philosophy, and filled the void in cosmical physics
which is at present felt by many scientific men without
knowing what is wanting, had the requisite data existed
in his time in addition to those presented to his peculiar
genius by the previous labours of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and
Kepler.  At least, I honour the genius of that remarkable
man so highly as to believe this; almost persuaded that his
own penetration, stimulated by the more inquisitive talent
of Leibnitz for material pursuits, would have solved many
problems not yet unfolded by his followers.  Newton, however, (as we shall see further on,) had no disposition for mere




INTRODUCTORY.                      3
speculations, and only indulged his mathematical faculties in
determining the laws of material motion, avoiding the search
into the nature and final constitution, so to speak, of forces
and causes.
The progress of knowledge upon these abstruse subjects
has been slow, delayed by various circumstances, but by
none more frequently than by a natural and submissive
respect for the position of authorities whose opinions or
influence would otherwise be of minor value. Experimental
physics is, however, exciting scholars of every class at the
present time to the profoundest inquiry into the causation
of phenomena, and into the final nature and action of the
chemical and celestial forces.
We know much, it is true. But much-how infinitely much!
-remains to be discovered. Veins of truth embedded in
darkness or error, branch in every direction; nevertheless,
the ablest engineers will ever be impotent to reach the
precious lodes without suitable instruments.  The mathematician may assume data, and lead the world into error, as
well as into truth.  The physicist, however, must have
matter and the forces themselves, so to speak, in his very
hands.  The fact that the force of gravitation may be proved
by the calculus to act with certain fixed laws, does not by
any means disprove the existence, nor even imply the nonexistence, of another force. It is the existence and phenomenal capacity and power of this other force which I propose to discuss in the following pages, tracing it into its
broadest expansions, applications, and connexions with other
forces and all forms of matter.
For an undertaking which may appear bold to many
scientific men, I, of course, can invoke no special indulgence.
Every close thinker has more and more perceived that with
B 2




4                  FORCE JAND VAT'URE.
the advancement of experimental discovery and solid knowledge, physical theories have grown perplexing on account of
the insufficient development of fundamental principles.  In
many fields of research investigators instinctively feel oppressively hemmed in, chained, and almost stifled by some
inexplicable deficiency of means in final inductive analysis.
While conscious that this synopsis may appear unnecessary to some very learned men whom I highly respect, but
who are too strongly wedded to an exclusive idea, or to
their own opinions, to admit evidence from  distant and
unheard-of quarters, I, nevertheless, shall not attempt to
offer any apology for its publication. Indeed, any explanation I could make, if one were necessary, for the free and
honest expressions of fact and inquiry, would not be satisfactory even to myself, and certainly would have no weight
with opponents.  Excited by a love of Nature to untiring
observation of its manifold wonders, having compassed many
seas and lands, explored the heavens, listened to the most
accomplished professors, and possessed myself of the views
and speculations of both ancient and modern philosophers,
I have ever felt unsatisfied with the physical foundations
upon which some of the branches of science have been so
long compelled to rest. Comprehending fully the magnitude
of my labour, I have nevertheless been undismayed, because
persuaded of the solidity of my positions by the number
and strength of accumulating facts.  If, however, I have in
any way failed to accomplish my undertaking, I will seize
this occasion to solicit those who come after me to take
courage, and to make more solid the ground and sure the
steps where I may only have reached uncertain results, or
wholly failed. The field which I have here ventured to enter
and lay open, is fully ripe and "white already to harvest."




INTRODUCTORY.                       5
If here and there I appear to falter and become dizzy, there
will arise scholars, I am confident, who, endowed with fitter
powers, will reap like giants in time to come.
2.
There is a certain phase of Science to appear, now and
then, in the following work-a phase always inadmissible in
experimental and mathematical inquiries-to which I invite
particular attention; and upon which a few remarks may be
necessary, in order to establish a clear understanding in the
outset between the reader and author. It is this. No system
of natural or positive philosophy can reach its legitimate
boundaries, comprehend nature entirely, and unfold by successive sequences into its grandest possible developments,
and yet be wholly material and physical.  A true and enduring system must embrace both physics and metaphysics.
However material our postulates may be, they must insensibly extend the argument into the immaterial; inasmuch as
force is immaterial.  A true system  must, furthermore, embrace geometry and the algebras-not their mere physical
and symbolical terms, but their high, deep, and purely intellectual principles, which, appertaining to psychology and
exposing an absolute universality of mind and purpose, lift
us freely and positively into studies of the Infinite. I have,
therefore, not hesitated to trace nature to first principles
through severe inductive processes, in opposition to the
materialistic notions of certain writers.  If I have not paused
altogether at the point where experimental and mathematical researches are compelled to pause in individual
specialities of inquiry, it is because the design of this work
will not permit such an omission.  For, in a generalization




6                  FORCE AND VNAYTURE.
exclusively embracing the discussion of forces, in a development of the system of nature as it becomes traceable towards
its origin, and in a search after causations based wholly upon
forces, as abstract yet demonstrable principles, Science becomes
transformed into a unit; and the motive spring of the Cosmos
cannot be overlooked at any point, nor for a single moment,
as an omnipresent energetic principle of a unitary character.
No positive system of philosophy, no grand generalization of
grave facts and of final irreversible inductions in experimental and natural science, and in universal thought and
numbers, can be, or pretend to be, perfectly unfolded and yet
exclude ethics and metaphysics.  When, therefore, any reference-open or implied-is made in the following work to
the existence in nature, or action in matter and force, of a
subtler geometric presence which, in default of other terms,
may be called pantheistic or monotheistic, the terms are to be
understood in a strictly technical sense as the only scientific
expression for the omnipresence of creative  energy, the
final excito-motor and intelligent principle upon which all
physical energy hinges and upon which every condition of
matter and form rests.
3.
While not specially asking indulgence from physicists and
naturalists, I must nevertheless solicit the patience of every
scholar who may attempt to  follow  my discussions and
positions from step to step. It will be soon perceived that my
task is in no respect elementary. The opening of the subject
may not only be dry and unattractive, but also positively
repelling to those whose convictions upon accepted theories
of various sorts have been long formed and are now un



NYI7NODUC'ORY.                      7
changeable.  There is nothing more certain, however, than
that human opinions change from age to age; and that we
are at present upon paths of solid progress.  I request only
that candid and profound consideration for the entire field of
research as it may be gradually unfolded, which so vast a
generalization actually and properly demands.  In positive
science nothing can be assumed.  I, therefore, shall consciously permit no assumption or hypothesis to enter into
any inquiry or argument; for the end would surely be to
weaken every sequence, and render no point or conclusion
reliable.
4.
The subject of this work, though new when treated in extenso,
has, it is proper to say here, a certain historical aspect; and
justice to the living, and especially to the dead, demands
a recognition of their respective labours and merits.
It is in this connexion, and in this sense, that I would
refer firstly in a special manner to the memory of Roger
Joseph Boscovich, an Italian scholar who published in 1745
-1763 a work on Natural Philosophy, in which he presented
a theory of repulsion, and attempted its mathematical development in a manner which seems to have made no impression
upon the learning of his own or of subsequent times.  As
far as I have been able to comprehend his speculations (for
he always calls the point his theory-" theoria mea"-in
opposition to, or rather as a milddle range of speculation
"between the theories of Newton and Leibnitz") they seem to
have been acute and prophetic, but only, after all, what he
declared them to be, pure hy2pothesis.  His aim  appears to
have been to reduce all the forces which he supposed to exist




8                 FORCE AND NATURE.
in nature, under a single theoretic law; "theoria philosophise
"naturalis redacta ad unicam legern virium in natura exis" tentium."  The doctrine of molecular repulsion is as old as
the ancient Greek philosophy, proven then by observation,
and experiment even, to be a positive entity as clearly as
experiment proves it to be so to-day.  But as late as the
time of Boscovich, although knowledge had so increased that
the imagination had more solid food for digestion, still the
age of exact inquiry had not opened and philosophy had not
established the inductive method by which alone its grandest
developments can be successfully reached. Scientific men in
those days were content, and compelled also, to advance and
labour upon a priori conditions-a method always uncertain.
But the mind of Boscovich, although hedged in by his sacerdotal connexions, was evidently unsatisfied; and, himself a
Jesuit, he obtained permission of the Church to publish his
theory (" superiorum  permissu, ac privilegio"), careful of
course not to molest dogmas, and fettered by the despotism
under which he had been educated.
Inasmuch as no attempt will be made in the following work to support any theory, facts alone forming the
foundation and development of its entire structure, we
shall have no occasion to refer hereafter to the ideas of
Boscovich.
I must state, however, in justice to myself, and in reference to the doctrine of cosmical repulsion which I have
aimed to unfold and establish in the sequel, that the existence of Boscovich's theoretical views were unknown to me
until my treatise upon " Repulsion as a Cosmic Force " was
printed in 1853. So far as I have since been able to comprehend them, it may be as frankly stated that they have
seemed to me deficient in practical and universal application




INTR O1) UCLTOR Y.                   9
to both cosmical and chemical philosophy.  I must furthermore state that the "Theoria" of Boscovich has never been
in the smallest degree even suggestive to me of fact or law,
either during my observations and researches, or during the
discussions embraced in the following pages.
In order to show that even Newton, several years prior to
Hooke's observations (points of practical importance to be
subsequently alluded to), had himself conceived of the possible existence and methodical working of a force unlike (and
the opposite of) gravitation, although his views were strictly
conjectural, it will be only necessary to quote a few lines
from  his letter to Boyle, dated Cambridge, Feb. 28, 1678-9.
He says: " I have so long deferred to send you my thoughts
" about the physical qualities we spake of, that did I not
" esteem  myself obliged by promise, I think I should be
"ashamed to send them  at all.  The truth is, my notions
"about things of this kind are so indigested, that I am not
"well satisfied myself in them; and what I am not satisfied
"in I can scarce esteem  fit to be communicated to others,
"especially in Natural' Philosophy, where there is no end of
"fancying....' It being only an explication of qualities which you desire
"of me, I shall set down my apprehensions in the form of
"suppositions, as follows. And first, I suppose that there is
"diffused through all places an ethereal substance capable
"of contraction and dilatation, strongly elastic, and, in a
"word, much like air in all respects, but far more subtil,
2....
" 3.
"4. When two bodies moving towards one another come
"nearer together, I suppose the ether between them to grow
"rarer than before, and the spaces of its graduated rarity to




1 0                  FO(RCIW  AND N/ 1J TUiR Af
"' extend further from  the superficies of the'bodies towards
" one another; and this by  reason that the ether cannot
m' ove and play np and down so freely in the strait passage
between the bodies as it could before they came so near
"together... 
" 5. Now from the fourth supposition it follows, that when
two bodies approaching one another, come so near together
"as to make the ether between them  begin to rarefy, they
"will begin to have a reluctance from  being brought nearer
together, and an endeavour to recede from  one another:' which reluctance and endearvour will increase as they come
" nearer together, because thereby they cause the interjacent
"ether to rarefy more and more.  But at length when they
come so near together that the excess of pressure of the
external ether which surrounds the bodies, above that of
"the rarefied ether, which is between them, is so great as to
"overcome the reluctance which the bodies have from being
"brought together, then will that excess of pressure drive
" them with violence together and make them adhere strongly' to one another, as was said in the second supposition:  
" and the endeavour which the ether between them  has to
" return to its former natural state of condensation, will' cause the bodies to have an endeavour of receding from one' another..
" When any metal is put into common water-, the water
" cannot enter into its pores to act on it and dissolve it.  Not' that water consists of too gross parts for this purpose; but' because it is unsociable to metal.  For there is a certain' secret principle in nature, by which liquors are sociable to
some things and unsociable to others...
"From  this supposed gradual subtilty of the parts of the' tether, some thiings above mighit be further illustrated and




INTRODUCTORY.                       1 I
" made more intelligible; but by what has been said you will
"easily discern whether in these conjectures there is any
"degree of probability, which is all I aim at. For my own
"part, I have so little fancy to things of this nature, that
"had not your encouragement moved me to it, I should
"never, I think, have thus far set pen to paper about them."
(MACCLESFIELD'S Collection  of Letters of Scientific  Men.
Oxford Edition, 1841, vol. ii. pp. 407-419.)
Thus it will be seen that there lay (floating, but undetermined) in the imagination of Newton himself, the idea of a
principle the opposite of gravitation: and that, so far as he
theorized, he conjectured these two principles-one causing
bodies to recede from, the other causing them  to approach,
one another-to reside in an ether which he fancied to fill
space, and to penetrate also the innermost constitution of all
bodies; and that matter was itself, or at least masses were
per se inert.
If the simple conjectures, however, of great philosophers
were to be historically traced, we should also find Lucretius
presenting the idea of a principle the opposite of gravitation
in his remarkable poem, " De Rerum Natura."  Therein the
entire system of nature is, to be sure, fancifully unfolded, but
with far greater acuteness and subtlety than is discoverable
in the most learned disquisitions of any author or thinker
subsequent to his time, and prior to our own age of experimental and observational study.  Lucretius, indeed, boldly
sets aside and declares absurd all opinions upon gravitation —
a point in which his contemporaries evidently believed-and
places in the strongest foreground of his vast picture of nature
the idea of an absolute void in which atoms (or, as Munro
translates the word, " the first-beginnings " or "seeds " of
things) and repulsion are the fundamental agents of creation.




12                 FORCE AND X~ l'URE.
" And herein, Memmius, be far from believing this, that all
" things as they say press to the centre of the sum, and that
" for this reason the nature of the world stands fast without
" any strokes from the outside, and the uppermost and lowest
"parts cannot part asunder in any direction, because all
"things have been always pressing toward the centre (if you
"can believe anything can rest upon itself), or that the heavy
"bodies which are beneath the earth all press upwards and
" are at rest on the earth, turned topsyturvy, just like the
"images of things which we see before us in the water..
"Things cannot therefore, in such a way, be held in union,
"o'ermastered by love of a centre."
" Space I have already proved to be infinite...."  (Book i.
MUNRO's Trcanslation.)
"...  we will now go on to explain what remains to be
"told of motions.
" Now methinks is the place, herein to prove this point
"also that no bodily thing can by its own power, be borne
" upwards and travel upwards; that the bodies of flames may
"not in this matter lead you into error.  For they are be" gotten with an upward tendency, and in the same direction
" receive increase, and goodly crops and trees grow upwards,
"though their weights, so far as in them is, all tend down" wards.  And when fires leap to the roofs of houses and
" with swift flame lick up rafters and beams, we are not to
" suppose that they do so spontaneously without a force
" pushing them  up. Even thus blood discharged from  our
" body spirts out and springs up on high and scatters gore
" about.  See you not too with what force the liquid of
"water spits out logs and beams? the more we have pushed
"and forced them  deep down and have pressed them  in,
many of us together, with all our might and much painful




IlNTRODUCTORY.                     13
"effort, with the greater avidity it vomits them  up and casts
"them forth, so that they rise and start out more than half
"their length...
"... W. herefore in seeds too you must admit the same,
" admit that besides blows and weights there is another cause
"of motions, from which this power of free action has been
"begotten in us, since we see that nothing can come from
"nothing.  For weight forbids that all things be cone by
"blows through as it were an outward force; but that the
"mind itself does not feel an internal necessity in all its
"actions and is not as it were overmastered and compelled to
"bear and put up with this, is caused by a minute swerving
"of first-beginnings at no fixed part of space and no fixed time.
"Nor was the store of matter ever more closely massed nor
"held apart by larger spaces between; for nothing is either
"added to its bulk or lost to it.  Wherefore the bodies of
"the first-beginnings in time gone by moved in the same
"way in which now they move, and will ever hereafter be
"borne along in like manner, and the things which have
"been wont to be begotten will be begotten after the same
"law and will be and will grow and will wax in strength so
" far as is given to each by the decrees of nature. And no
" force can change the sum  of things; for there is nothing
"outside, either into which any kind of matter can escape
out of the universe, or out of which a new  supply can
"arise and burst into the universe and change all the nature
of things and alter their motions."  (Ibid. Book ii.)
Others among both the ancients and moderns have uttered
kindred notions in one form  or another.  But the mere
expression of suppositions or fancyings, as Newton properly
calls such speculations, however ingeniously or poetically
similar ideas may have been set forth, has done little to




14                 FORCE AND NATURE.
advance physical science, or lift the origin and phenomena of
the celestial motions or terrestrial changes from the realms
of doubt or of absolute darkness.
Of course, there must come an end, sooner or later, to all
speculations upon physical questions, albeit the period may
be yet far distant.  The days of indulgence in theories, and
of being satisfied with fancyings, are happily passing away.
True philosophy, the exact sciences, demand unquestionable
facts and principles upon which to found severe discussions,
and will be content with nothing short of these.
Fortunately, a remarkable class of celestial objects has
always excited the uncommon  attention  of even cascal
observers.  In an especial manner the singular and often
startling appearances presented in the tails of the great
comets which from time to time have swept within visible
ranges of our planet, have during all ages, and even in
nations only partially enlightened, incited the most lively
and subtle inquiries into the nature and action of the causes
which produce them.
The phenomena presented by them have given rise of late
to much discussion and inquiry as to the presence within, or
rather as to the action upon, them of some principle of force
besides that of gravitation.
Dr. Robert Hooke, as long ago as 1682, made such remarkably acute observations upon several extraordinary comets
which appeared during his career, as to discover the fact, and
express the idea as plainly as any of his successors has done,
that some agency seemed to proceed out of the sun, which
drove the particles of comets' tails in a contrary direction to
that which gravitation would cause them to take. He supposed this agency to be light. It is only just to the memory




ININtlOD UCOR Y.                   1. 5
of Dr. Hooke to say that no observations subsequent to his
own, advanced knowledge or even conjecture upon this subject, or suggested approximative explanations of cometary
phenomena, until Bessel, availing himself of the experimental
researches of the present century and the terms adopted in
modern physics, applied an indefinite idea of polarity to the
visible influences exercised over the formation and phenomena of the tails of comets by the solar energies.  Hooke
even applied the name of "Levitation" to this solar action,
upon which he theorizes as follows:-" For though (as I have
" before mentioned) the exceeding swift Dartings and Flash" ings of Light do rather seem to be made by a successive
" Accension, like a Train of Gunpowder (and, as I have sup"posed, if not proved, Lightning); yet to maintain such a
"Succession of Steams, there must needs be an exceeding
" quick Supply from the Head, even to the utmost extremity
"of the Blaze: and it looks not unlike to a kind of actual
"Levitation, or a driving outwards of certain halituous Parts
"from  the Sun, as if the Rays of Light of the Sun were
"carried with a local Motion rapidly swift, and in their
"Passage by the Star of the Comet, did carry with them such
"kind of halituous or fiery Steams. The often observing
"with my bare Eye these sudden Dartings of Light, which
"seemed to pass almost in a Second from  the Head even
"to the End of the Blaze, did often make me consider,
"whether the Rays of Light might not thence be supposed to
"be moved away from the Sun with this exceedingly violent
"and rapid Mliotion; especially since there are some Obser"vations of Mr. Romer's about the Eclipses of Jupiter's
" Satellites, which seem to make probable such a Theory."
(Posthumous Works, 1705, p. 170).  The indefiniteness of
Hooke's ideas, however, upon the nature and action of force




16                FORCE AND NATIURE.
is clearly shown  in his teachings that " Matter" and
"Motion" were the real and the only fundamental principles of the cosmos. " These two I take to be two single
"Powers, which co-operate in effecting the most of the
"sensible and insensible Effects of the World.... These
"are, as it were, the Male and Female of Nature, from the co"operations of which the most of Natural Productions are
"effected. The first is, as it were, the Female or Mother
"Principle, and is therefore rightly called by Aristotle and
"other Philosophers, Materia, Material Substance or Mcater;
" this being in itself, abstractly considered, without Life or
" Motion, without form, and void, and dark; a Power in
" itself wholly inactive, until it be, as it were, impregnated
"by the second Principle, which may represent the Pater,
"and may be called Paternus Spiritus, or hylarchick Spirit,
" as some call it, without whose Conjunction nothing, or no
" alteration, can be produced: For neither can Matter without
"Motion, nor Motion without Matter, produce any Effect...."
Speaking of those "who have gone the other way and have
" been dabbling in this or that particular subject," he says:
" The four Elements, the 3 Chymical Principles, Magnetism,
" Sympathy, Fermentation, Alkaly and Acid, and divers other
" Chimeras, too many to repeat; which having been em" braced, nothing else will be heard, or go down with them;
"whereas, alas, Nature perhaps knows no one of these for a
"Principle in any sense, much less in that which they
understand it.... But to proceed, this supposition of the
"two fundamental and primary Powers, to wit, that of
"  atter, and that of Motion, which I have here delivered,
"seems to me very consonant to the sense I understand of
"the History of the Genesis of the World, delivered by
" Moses," &c. &c.




INTRODUCTORY.                       1 7
Thus it will be seen that Hooke himself, who states in the
course of his Dissertation upon Comets, that he was the first
observer of the outstreaming motion of light in the tails of
comets in a direction opposite to that of gravitation, a motion
which he called Levitation, whose essence was the same as
that principle which directs the flame of a candle upwards
from  the earth, and which he embraced in the name and
action of "Light" as one " of the two great Laws of Motion," gravity being the second;-thus it will be seen that
Hooke himself, the earliest telescopic observer (so far as I
know) of the physical fact of cosmical repulsion, had no exact
idea of its character or numerical value as an abstract and
radical principle, although he was fully impressed with the
conviction, in virtue of his personal observations upon the
motions of comets' tails, that there was another great "Law
of Motion " beside gravity.  " The first is that of Light, the
second is that of Gravity."  His motive impulse or principle
of light was "Levitation."   Hooke's system  of forces and
Natural Philosophy embraced an illimitable "Expansum,"
filled with a diffuse material "Mediucm" called ".Ether,"
which ether, per se, notwithstanding its extreme tenuity, he
declared to be heavier, " Bulk for Bulk," than the heaviest
Gold.  Though this doctrine might "at first hearing seem  a
little paradoxical, if not absurd," he would nevertheless "be
"able to make it somewhat more plausible, if not positively
"and undeniably demonstrate it so to be," by the fact that
this ether penetrated throughout the interstices of the densest
gold; " so that the Vacuity, as it is commonly taught, or erroneously supposed, is a more dense Body than Gold as Gold."
In consequence of this Gravity of Ether or Vacuity in the
Expansurm, light.darted through it away from the sun as the
blaze of a candle darts away from the earth; and the tails of
G




18                 FORCE AND NA TURA..
comets were formed by this levitation, carrying with it the
"Volatile Nitrous Spirits" and " halituous Steams" of the
comet's head into "the vast Expcansum of the World" which
filled "the whole Interstices between the greater globular
solid Bodies thereof," in the same way as the levitation of
light carried with it the "Steams issuing out of the Wieke"
and Unctuous Substance of a candle during combustion.
The two phenomena were identical, differing only in magnitude and situation.
Such is a glimpse of the ideas and philosophy prevailing
among the learned in the time of Newton, a period when a
host of great lights in Germany, France, and England, burst
upon the world with a suddenness only equalled by the
wondrous comets which awoke them  to sublime contemplations of nature and the mathematical study of her laws. If
quaintly and crudely uttered, they are not destitute of suggestiveness, and will at least remind scientific men of the
laborious works and prying discussions which, though long
since shelved or forgotten, prepared the way for the present
achievements of physical observation  and  experimental
discovery.
Nor will I overlook the similar conjectures-shapeless
ideas, however, scarcely meriting the title of hypotheses-of
Kepler, Euler, and others, that the light emitted from the sun
might be a repulsive force per se; or those of Olbers and
others, that the sun ejects electricity which exercises repulsive
influences directly upon distant bodies; for it is only necessary to submit these theories to the crucible of existing
knowledge in order to reduce them to dross, and demonstrate
the necessity for the precedent activity of some principle
profounder still than either light, electricity, magnetism, or
heat, per se, as a universal base of mechanical energy.




INTR0ODUCTOR Y.                     19
The speculations of Bessel, resulting from the observations of that illustrious astronomer upon the appearance of
Halley's comet in 1835, and especially upon the development and phenomena of its tail, are of a higher order than
the preceding, and demand definite attention, because they
are founded upon the recognition of the fact of a cosmicorepulsive force as a simple but positive phenomenon-a phenomenon connected with experimental physics by certain
specific indications-and an effect produced in some unexplained way, by a solar action the opposite of solar gravitation.
His Memoir upon this subject may be found in the Astronom.
Nachrichten, vol. xiii. No. 300-302, pp. 185-232.  The gist
of Bessel's opinions and speculations upon this subject may
be fairly presented in the following extract from that Memoir:
" Meine Vorstellung von der Moglichkeit einer Verbindung' aller, an den Kometen beobachteten Erscheinungen ist in"dessen die folgende.  Jede Wirkung eines Korpers auf
" inen anderen kann in zwei Theile zerlegt werden, deren
"einer fir alle Theile des letzteren gleich ist wahrend, der
" andere aus den Untersehieden der Wirkungen auf verschie"dene Theile entsteht. Wenn die Wirkung in sehr grossen
"Entfernungen der K6rper voneinander, sehr klein ist, so ist' der erste Theil derselben derjenige, welcher, bei einemn
" Uebergange von diesen Entfernungen zu kleineren, zuerst
"merklich wird; der andere kann erst spa.ter eine merkliche
"Gr6sse erlangen.  Im Falle eines Kometen, welcher in sehr
"grosser Entfernung zu der Sonne herabkonimmt, zeigt sich
"also zuerst die alien seinen Theilen gemeinschaftliche Wirkung: ich nehme an, dass sie in einer Verfiichtigung von
"Theilchen bestehe, welche der Sonne feindlich polarisirt
" werden.  Der andere, spater merklich werdende Theil der
"Wirkung allein, kamn eine Pola.risiring des Kolmeten se.lbst,
02




20                 FORCE AND  NWATURE.
" so wie eine vorzugsweise Ausstr6mung nach der Sonne uz,
"zur Folge haben.  Zeigen die Beobachtungen wirklich diese
"Erscheinungen, wie bei dem Kometen von 1744 und dem
" Halley'schen der Fall war, so kann nicht gelaugnet werden,
"dass die Austr6mung, indem sie aus einem der Sonne zuge"wandten, also ihr freundlich polarisirten Theile der Ober" flache hervorgeht, auch dieselbe Polarisirung besitzt, welche
"die ausstromenden Theilchen der Sonne zu nahern sucht.
" Dass die ausgestr6mten Theilchen dennoch von der Sonne
"zuriickgestossen werden, wie die Beobachtungen zeigen, kann
" vielleicht dadurch erklart werden, dass die Ausstromung in
"einem  Raume stattfindet, welcher schon mit ihr feindlich
"polarisirter Materie gefiillt ist und fortdauernd damit gefiillt
"wird, wodurch  die  entgegengesetzten  Polaritaten  sich
"ausgleichen und die ausstromenden Theilchen desto mehr
" von ihrer urspriinglichen Eigenschaft velieren und desto
"mehr die entgegengesetzte annehmen, je weiter sie sich von
"dem Kerne des Kometen entfernen.
"Durch diese Ansicht werden alle Erscheinungen, welche
"ich an deni Kometen wahrgenommen habe, untereinander
"in Verbindung gesetzt."
" My conception, then," says Bessel, "of the possibility of a
"union of all the phenomena observable in comets, is the
"following. Every action of one body upon another may be
"decomposed into two parts, one of which has the same value
"for every particle of the body, while the other consists in
"the differences of the actions upon its different portions.
"If the bodies are at great distances from  each other and
"the action small, the one part is that which, upon a transi" tion of these distances to lesser ones, becomes apparent
" first; the other only assumes an appreciable value later.
" Tn the case of a comet approaching the sun from  an




INTRODUCTORY.                      21
" immense distance, a reciprocal action evinces itself at first
" in all its parts. I suppose this to result from a volatiliza" tion of its particles which are oppositely polarized to the sun.
" The other action, which only becomes apparent later, may
" have for its effect a polarization of the comet itself, as well
"as an outstreaming toward the sun. Should the observa"tions indicate these appearances-which, with the comet of
"1774, and that of Halley, was actually the case-it cannot
"be denied that the outstreaming, inasmuch as it proceeds
"out of a portion of the surface turned toward the sun (and
"therefore its friendly-polarized-" freundlich polarisirten""portion) possesses that polarization which seeks to identify
itself with the outstreamed portions of the sun.  That the
"outstreamed particles are nevertheless repelled on the part
"of the sun, may, perhaps, be explained upon the supposition
"that the outstreaming takes place in a space filled with
"oppositely polarized matter with which the discharged par"tides of the comet become continually saturated, in conse"quence of which the contrary polarities neutralize each
"other, and the outstreamed particles lose so much the more
"of their original property, and take on so much the more of
"the opposite one, in proportion as the distance between
"them and the nucleus of the comet increases.
"' Upon this view of the subject, all the appearances which
"I have been able to notice in comets are rationally united
with one another."
This translation (with which I am favoured by my friend
William  H. Wahl, of Philadelphia, U.S.A.) expresses at
least with approximate  clearness, the opinions of Bessel
upon the phenomena in question.  By this explanation he
endeavoured to account, also, for the return of the tails into
the nuclei.  His telescopic observations of Halley's comet




22                 FORCE AND N TURE.
impressed him with the idea that some other function of force
probably existed in the sun than that of gravitation, inasmuch as the phenomena noticed by him  indicated  the
presence and action of a contrary element of power. This
he denominated polarity.   But what problem  does that
simple word solve, when applied to the mechanics of the
heavens? The unsatisfactory terms in which even the great
Bessel stated his views of its action show plainly that he had
no definite idea of the character of stellar and planetary
repulsion as an abstract principle of energy, nor of its universal association with gravitation as a central-or rather a
decentral-force in all cosmic masses, and as the veritable
working power of nature. Professor J. B. Nichol, of Glasgow,
in a learned essay upon comets, speaks of Bessel's memoir in
the following manner; and from  that time (1860) to the
present nothing has been added to this department of inquiry:
"One remarkable contribution to positive knowledge must,
" however, be mentioned-viz. Bessel's memoir on the phe" nomena attending what seemed the process of the formation
"of the tail of Halley's comet in 1825. This distinguished
"person had rare opportunities to notice these phenomena,
"and they led him  to the conviction that our central orb
" develops a polarity, or exercises a polar force over these
"diffuse meteors. What that polar force is, remains of course
"unknown; but, considering it akin to magnetism, it will
"readily be seen that it renders comprehensible the disturb"ance of the comet's form, its position towards the sun, and
"the fact that the motions of the body are not disturbed
"by the development of the tail. The whole of the memoir
"in question is worthy of more attention than it has hitherto
"received."  How much Bessel's hypothetical explanations
of the phenomena attending " the formation of the tail of




INTRODUCTORY.                      2 -3
Halley's comet" has assisted my researches and discussions,
and what influence they have exercised upon the developments of the following chapters, the reader will be able to
determine for himself, after the perusal of this work. It
would not be out of place, nevertheless, to say here, in
justice to myself, that I was ignorant of the existence of
Bessel's memoir until I had for many years been occupied
with other series of phenomena which are discussed at large
in the sequel;-not, indeed, until 1858, after the publication
of Mr. Bond's celebrated observations of appearances in
Donati's comet similar to  those observed by Bessel in
Halley's, and after Professor Norton's mathematical discussions of certain physical elements involved in the formation
and orbit of its tail, were put forth to silence the pretensions
of another party to originality of discovery. It was at this
time that Bessel's memoir, which seemed to have been long
forgotten by astronomers, was first brought to my knowledge.
In 1858-60 M. Faye, Member of the French Academy of
Sciences, revived the idea, also, as a consequence of the telescopic observations of Mr. Bond and others, including his own,
that a definite repulsive influence was exerted by the sun upon
Donati's comet and upon its tail, and upon comets in general,
but not upon the denser cosmic bodies. M. Faye elaborates his
theory in a communication (No. 1240) to the Astronoraische
Nachrichten dated "Paris, 1860, February 4;" and inasmuch
as this is a subject which must very soon engage the earnest
attention equally of physicist, astronomer, and mathematician,
I shall set forth M. Faye's hypothesis in his own language,
and there leave it upon its exact grounds, to be adjudged
according to its merits, and in the light of present and of
increasing knowledge:
"La brillante apparition de la comete de Donati que




24                   FORCE AND NATURE.
"j'ai etudiee avec un telescope en verre argent6  construit
"par M. Foucault, a vivement fixe mon attention  sur la
" thorie des cometes..
"D'apres l'ensemble des faits observes et des discussions
" qu'ils ont fait naitre, on peut etablir, comme conditions
"premieres du probl~me, les points suivants:"1. Le  soleil exerce visiblement une repulsion  sur la
"matiere des cometes.
" 2. L'acceleration du mouvement d'une comete est con"nexe avec la formation de sa queue.
"3. Les  phenomenes plus particuliers (multiplicite des
" queues, secteurs lumineux et leur balancement, enveloppes
" concentriques du ndyau, etc.) doivent etre expliques, non
" dans leurs moindres details, ce qui serait assurement trop
"exiger d'une theorie quelconque, mais dans leurs traits les
" plus generaux, sans doter la matiere cometaire de proprietes
" toutes speciales.
"4. Une force ne peut 8tre introduite hypothetiquement
" dans le systeme du monde, qu'a la condition de ne pas
"troubler sensiblement l'harmonie actuelle basee sur les lois
"de la gravitation et sur l'observation.
"5. I1 convient de n'accepter, dans le systeme du monde, que
"des forces connues ou des forces susceptibles d'etre verifiees
"exp6rimentalement jusque dans le mode d'action suppose.
" La theorie a laquelle je me suis arrete ne met en jeu que
"les proprietes les plus generales des corps, la gravite, la
"chaleur solaire, une force repulsive nee de cette chaleur et
"exercee au loin par la surface incandescente du soleil....
" Reduisons d'abord la question au role de la gravite seule:
"ce sera le cas des cometes qui circulent autour d'une soleil
" teint....  Mais les choses se passent autrement autour de
"notre soleil incandescent....




INTR OD UCTORY.                       25
"Introduisons maintenant la chaleur du soleil.  Sur son
"influence, la formation des queues sera evidemment activee
"par la dilatation progressive de la nebulosite, ou plutot des
"couches qui forment le noyau, et peut-etre par un change"ment d'etat physique dans une partie de sa matiere....
"Introduisons enfin, avec la chaleur, la repulsion que la
"surface du  soleil doit exercer au  loin, d'aprbs l'hypo"these....
" Pour aller plus loin, il faut definir la force repulsive.  De
"ce qu'elle est exercee par la surface du soleil, je conclus
"qu'elle  est independante  de sa  masse, tout comme les
"radiations solaires....
" On peut montrer enfin que la quatrieme condition est par" faitement remplie, car, par la nature mnmme de cette force
" rpulsive, les planetes et leurs satellites echappent a son
"action a cause de leur densite considerable.... J'appelle
"sur ce sujet les meditations des physiciens. On a souvent
"cherche si la chaleur qui produit ou exalte la repulsion
"moleculaire ne produirait pas aussi une repulsion a dis"tance: ne serait-il pas interessant de voir un phenomene
"astronomique nous reveler la cause de l'insucces de ces ten" tatives si rationnelles au fond, et nous apprendre c quelles
"conditions on peut reussir h mettre cette repulsion  en
" vidence?   Ne serait-il pas plus interessant encore de re"trouver dans le ciel la dualite des forces opposees qui regissent
"la matiere autour de nous? "
In  order to render ample justice to  M. Faye, I will
express my conviction, after a careful study of his views,
that he, like Boscovich, Bessel, and Bond, had become clearly
satisfied that some principle of energy contrary in its action
to that of gravitation is requisite to develop certain cosmical
phenomena, and to fulfil the physical necessities observable




26                 FPORCE AND NATURE.
in the aspects of cometary bodies and in the formation and
direction of their tails. While Euler conjectured that some
occult principle of this character depended upon solar light,
Olbers upon solar electricity, Bessel upon the opposite polarity
of a resisting medium to that of the cometary particles (and
I might include Nichol's suggestion of magnetism, as another
and final speculation), M. Faye explicitly declares his opinion
of the origin of this force to be, that it is born or springs out
of heat-solar heat-the incandescent surface of the sun:
"une force repulsive," he says, "nee de cette chaleur (la
"chaleur solaire) et exercee au loinpar la surface incandescente
" du soleil." Let the reader bear in mind his explicit terms, for
the purpose of deciding how far, and in what respect even
the latest hypothesis or conjectures may have assisted me,
or influenced the progress or final results of my inquiries.
Let it be borne in mind at this point where M. Faye declares
himself to stand ("la theorie a laquelle je me suis arrete"),
that if his cosmic repulsive force is born of solar heat (" nee
de cette chaleur solaire"), it must follow that heat itself
is a more radical principle than the one to which it gives
birth. A particular reference to this part of the eminent
French astronomer's theory is the point I wish to fix upon
the reader's mind, in order that he may recall it when his
interest may have become enlisted in the following discussions. The simple statement that my first demonstrations of
" Repulsion as a planetary, solar, and universal Force," were
published in March, 1853, will be sufficient to establish
priority of research and publication upon the subject at large.
It has been well stated by a French savant that "when
"questions of priority interest only persons, cotemporary
"science, which often presents history imperfectly, does not
"preoccupy itself with them; but it is not so with scientific




INTRODUCTORY.                     2'7
"facts, or with their interpretation."  (Comptes Rendus,
vol. lxiii. p. 994.) Further remarks in regard to the historical branch of this subject are scarcely necessary, inasmuch as even those who have admitted the observations and
opinions of Bessel and Bond to be of value mathematically
have not elaborated them, and have extended their application no further than to the formation, direction, and conjectured molecular motion of comets' tails.
This statement presents a fair exposg of what has been
observed, suggested, done, or recorded in scientific works or
memoirs of a worthy and reliable character upon the subject
of cosmical repulsion up to the moment of my writing, so far
as I am aware.
5.
A word upon authorities. Considering the endless store of
experimental and incontrovertible facts, and of authentic
observations in physics, astronomy, and other departments of
research, which have been accumulated from  the days of
Thales to our own, and especially during the last three
centuries —considering these stores of individual facts in
the light of a stupendous museum, open freely to all who
seek knowledge, or would attempt to classify them, or learn
their origin, connexion, differences, interdependence, and
general history-similar, indeed, to a universal exhibition of
natural objects and of ancient and modern art, free to common
study-I have not hesitated to handle and use these facts
where they represent generic principles, or would solidify
and perfect that work of generalization which has associated
itself legitimately with every step of my undertaking, and




28                FORCE AND NATURE.
which is, in truth, the object and sum and substance of the
work itself.
As it would be beyond my power, and indeed quite unnecessary, to cite in detail the names of all authors, treatises,
and articles to whom and to which I am indebted for facts
and  knowledge, as industrious compilers are habituated
properly to do, I must refer at large to encyclopedic records,
and to academic and periodical reports of scientific discovery
and discussion for what may not be instantly acknowledged
to be original with myself.  Claiming no contributions to
knowledge which will not be readily accorded where such
contributions may deserve recognition, I shall leave the entire
field of inquiry, fearfully vast as it is, to unfold itself gradually, without diverting the student's mind therefrom  by
lengthy comments, or by annotations and references of a
minute character.
It gives me pleasure, however, to allude particularly to an
able memoir of Professor Rankine, upon the "Outlines of
the Science of Energetics," read to the Philosophical Society
of Glasgow, May 2, 1855, and to express here a due consideration of its value. While Mr. Rankine has taken an
important step in the right direction, it may be stated nevertheless, without unfairness, that his views have been hitherto
theoretical, and, so far as I am aware, undeveloped even by
himself. At the same time that my labours are, and have
been, wholly independent of his studies, the latter have a
very conspicuous bearing upon the principles unfolded in the
following chapters.  The term "Energetics," applied by Mr.
Rankine to his Essay, is both happy and suggestive; and I
have adopted it in the course of my discussions as a pregnant
and significant symbol of the principles and philosophy
which I shall present in full, and endeavour to establish




INTRODUCTORY.                    29
throughout the sequel. But even this word-indicative of
the most abstract physical conditions of nature, is probably
only a temporary "term" in intellectual progress.  Like
"phlogiston," " caloric," and many others which have shaped,
and, like imperial magicians, have presided over the ideas of
their day, it also may be supplanted by others as science
mounts upward step by step to its lofty destination and
fullest developments.
After making the preceding general remarks upon authorities and authors, it is nevertheless permissible for me to say
that if special references have been made in the course of
our discussions to those great lights who, from time to time,
have shed lustre upon science and thought by transcendent
discovery, or by observations and experiments directly leading
to discovery; such references have been not only essential
and proper, but also most grateful duties.  The names of
illustrious men and assiduous scholars are both types of
principles and golden links in the chain of intellectual and
moral progress. They ennoble history, adorn nations, incite
the young to the emulation of daring thoughts and successful
deeds; and are invariably conspicuous in whatever attempts
we make to classify facts or trace and unfold general laws.
All such scholars are true high priests of nature, and while
their labours shed blessings upon conquering science to
descend through endless generations, they have at the same
time an inalienable right to exact tithes of acknowledgment and gratitude even after having vanished for ever from
mortal sight.




30                FORCE AND NATURE.
6.
There are two illustrious philosophers whose names will
here and there adorn the following pages, the recollection of
whom demands from my pen more than a simple reference,
where the opportunity permits me, as it does here, to
acknowledge in grateful terms their friendly interest in the
results of my researches.  I allude to the late Michael
Faraday, and to Baron Justus Von Liebig.
To the latter I am indebted not only for much information
derived from his works during a somewhat active professional life, but also for kind attentions and encouraging words
since I have been honoured with his personal friendship, and
been engaged upon the following discussions.
To the former I have felt deeply grateful since the year
1858, at which time a generous and encouraging letter from
him incited me to persevere in those observations and pursuits
which have resulted in the present volume. He believed
in something more than the simple (yet admitted and accurate) numerical law of gravitation; and he never despaired
that the time would arrive when some new  light would
penetrate even to the bottom, and illuminate every crevice and
fault, of the deep and dark mines in which he was such an
indefatigable and successful explorer. And in thus referring
to the name of that unpretending but truly great philosopher,
I would utter these tenderest words of grateful remembrance
as I would lay a perennial garland upon his statue orfragrant
flowers upon the fresh sod which covers his honoured
remains.




INTRODUCTORY.                  31
7.
The preliminary points to which it has been necessary for
various reasons to refer, having been stated, I will now invite
the profound and candid attention of both the learned and
general reader to the subject of this work-alike to facts,
treatment, deductions, and generalizations-which I have the
honour to lay before them, trusting that the results of many
years' labour may not be wholly devoid of importance to my
contemporaries, and hoping that the laws which I have endeavoured to unfold may prove of permanent value in every
department of physical and morphological analysis. That
this work is incomplete will be only too apparent to the
appreciative student of nature;. but, incomplete as it may
be, that it will receive the careful study which the magnitude
of its inquiries demands and which the importance of these
inquiries deserve in this age of thought, experimental knowledge, and solid progress, I cannot for a moment permit
myself to doubt.








CHAPTER  I.
SPACE.
1.
"ABSOLUTE SPACE," that is to say, immensity of space conceived of as an absolute void-a state destitute of all matter
and all force-would undeniably be nothing; or, a condition
free of all resistance to the action or reaction of matter and
force, whenever they should begin to be, and to move in
mutual relations. Such an idea of space might be precisely
expressed in the words illimitable vacuum.
2.
The origin of space, if it had any, is beyond thought or
conjecture. As we know nothing, we can only contemplate it
as a vast and bewildering fundamental fact, or ideal primordial depth, in which all phenomena of creation began and
have been successively developed, since the beginning of time.
3.
Some suppose space to consist of an ether, a peculiar kind
of matter of indescribable tenuity, in which the grosser forms
of matter are suspended (an idea originated by the ancients,
D




34                 FORCE AND NATURE.
and revived by Descartes in order to explain his theory of
the propagation of light); and they further describe this
ether to be necessary as a medium of transmission for the
forces which play between these grosser forms, and as a cause
of resistance to the motion of at least one of them. Among
recent thinkers, Mossotti and Faraday, perhaps the most profound and sagacious of modern experimental physicists, have
believed this ether to be so attenuated as to be imponderable,
and still to be material; while others of less eminence have
insisted that it is of a ponderable character, and that there is
essentially no empty space within the boundaries of creation.
Dana has supposed such an ether unnecessary as a medium
for the intercosmical transmission of certain phenomena, and
has replaced it with what he denominates " pulsating molecular force."  If "pulsating molecular force" be communicated by one body to another when infinite distances apart in
an infinite vacuum —that is, without intermediate molecular
conditions-the fact has not thus far, to my knowledge, been
intelligibly demonstrated. The conception is pregnant, however, with embryonic truth; and, as a hypothesis, is an important step in advance of prevailing ideas, as will hereafter
more clearly appear.  But it has not been presented in a
manner plainly to elucidate, so far as I know, the mode in
which " molecular force" is transmitted through space; nor
can it be expected, indeed, that the ablest physicists will succeed in establishing ultimate truth, when important elements
of knowledge are ignored or discarded from physical inquiry.
All these different doctrines of modern theorists-including
the conjectures of the ancient Greek philosophers, which
continued to prevail through the Middle Ages-exhibit the
penetrative restlessness of human thought to extend itself
into the widest realms, and find out the deepest secrets of the
universe.  And no age since the revival of learning has been
stimulated by such encouragements and advantages for profound investigation, with such sure prospects of satisfactory
rewards, as the present. But, so far, no solid knowledge has
been reached in this direction.




SPAC.                         35
The speculations of the earlier thinkers relative to Space
may, on the whole, when the character of our facts is fairly
weighed, be regarded as nearer the truth than those of
modern philosophers-excepting those of Dana, who appears
to believe clearly, without proving it, that space is vacuum,
and  perhaps Helmholtz, who declares that if the ether
is material its resistance cannot be nil. The former had,
indeed, no definite ideas of space, but supposed it to be
a vacuum  in which cosmical bodies had been projected by
some divine mechanism, and in which they continued to
move by some vis inertice. The theory, nevertheless, has
long prevailed in molecular physics-at least, ever since it
has been reduced to science-that an ether, or attenuated
form  of matter, exists between atoms which prevents their
contact; that attraction draws molecules into a certain degree
of juxtaposition until repulsion is awakened, which prevents
actual contact; and that intermolecular spaces are penetrated
throughout the largest and densest masses by this hypothetical ethereal fluid.
4.
The wonderful discovery made by the astronomer, John
Francis Encke, that the comet of shortest period, or of 3years, now bearing his name, had been retarded in its return
to perihelion by some cause independent of ordinary planetary perturbation, led him to adopt the opinion that the
interplanetary spaces must be likewise filled with the same
attenuated substance.  Thus a bold conjecture of Descartes
seemed to be demonstrated as a fact, by Encke.
It appeared to him that some ponderable means of resistance
must have been opposed to the motion of this comet, or it
would have completed its revolution at the moment calculated
from its well-observed elements.  A declaration of such importance, by so distinguished an observer, was startling to
scientific men, and received their ready assent in consequence
of the high mathematical authority of its author.  This
D2




36                 FORCE JAND NATURE.
presumption of Descartes, sustained by the mathematical conclusion of Encke, has been seized by every speculator upon
cosmical phenomena; and it is now adopted for the solution
of all problems concerning light, heat, colour, magnetism,
electricity, the aurora borealis, the zodiacal light, and even
earthquakes.  And the idea that space is filled with attenuated but ponderable matter against which the earth, comets,
and all other bodies strike in their movements, is now so
general as to become a basis for the wildest theories; and it
is apparently established, as a scientific fact, as much beyond
discussion as gravitation itself.
There was probably never a grosser error introduced into
physical science than the ethereal theory; and its influence in
retarding solid progress, and in excluding the deductions of
experimental physics from their possible application to the
causes of light as a general phenomenon, and as a result of
repulsion (repulsion being viewed as an agent in the local generation of cosmic light, electricity, &c.), has been greater than
at first appears. While the discovery of Encke respecting the
anomalous motion of his comet was, doubtless, an important
and suggestive fact, the conclusion announced from it was premature and supererogatory.  Inquiry after some explanation
of so remarkable a phenomenon was, indeed, natural; but the
imperfect development of cosmical physics rendered its discovery, at that moment, impossible. More recent observations
of comets have established beyond question the truth, that a
repulsive principle plays between them and the sun; and it
is quite possible that a more thorough discussion of physical
forces and of their demonstrable influences in celestial mechanics, will elucidate similar anomalies without laborious
or fallacious efforts of the imagination.  Solid knowledge
is only acquired by slow and positive steps; and exact science
can never be advanced by insisting upon theories at the
expense of truth.
The fact discovered by Encke simply suggested to his
sagacious mind, that the resistance existing in -the interplanetary spaces must be matederial, because gravitation was




SPCRE.                        37
considered by astronomers the sole force in the universe
acting upon moving masses, and because, if gravitation was
counteracted by any other principle, it must be by some
attenuated matter, diffused throughout space, acting mechanically upon the advancing comet, and thus retarding
its motion. No repulsive force acting between the sun and
its revolving system of planets, the antagonist of attraction,
was then admitted by astronomers, or imagined to existnotwithstanding Bessel, ten years previously, had observed
phenomena in Halley's comet, which impressed him  with
the belief that it was influenced by some repulsive principle
proceeding from  the sun.  That such a force does exist, is
now  admitted  by some astronomers, as an  electrical or
thermic element, and fiture observation may establish REPULSION to be an independent principle, as universal in its influence as gravitation itself; and when its functions in celestial
dynamics shall be thoroughly  understood, the prevailing
opinion that space consists of a resisting medium would be
discarded as a fallacy and absurdity. WTe have given reasons
for supposing that the basis of the speculation is of a very
questionable nature. Nothing is absolutely known upon this
subject.  It is so profound that science is destitute of even a
ray of light upon it, except what may be derived from analogy
and inductive reasoning. All opinions upon the conditions
of infinite space are the merest hypotheses; and in the midst
of conjectures, that would be the most probably correct
which presumed space to be a perfect vacuum.  This would
accord in analogy with all that is known of the character of
ultimate principles, and permit the freest motion to cosmic
masses; for every principle or general condition of nature
presents dual qualities, or opposite methods of expressing its
functions or character,-as attraction and repulsion, paramagnetism  and diamagnetism, positive and negative electricity, heat and cold, &c. So, also, in the most fundamental
of all the conditions of nature, the material should appear in
opposition to the immaterial; matter and vacuum should be
simultaneously and necessarily associated.  The latter is
necessary for the existence of the former.




38                 FORCE AND N ATIURE.
As far as one argument can combat and supplant another,
and thus far influence opinions upon a subject so unsupported on either side by direct, demonstrable, and conclusive proofs, it may be said with fairness that M. Faye, in an
able paper upon " The hypothesis of a resisting medium," published in the Comptes Rendus (p. 68, vol. i. 1860), has invalidated Encke's ideas, if not wholly overthrown them.  This
assumption of the illustrious German astronomer having been
proved invalid, there is not an existing fact to my knowledge
upon which any rigorous physicist can establish a conclusion
that the interstellar spaces are filled with molecules, however
minute their division; or, in other words, that space in any
sense of the word is a plenm.
If not a plenuvm, it must be a vacuunm; and if so now, was
so in the beginning of things, and has continued so during
the course of natural events.
The association of matter and vacuum, of entity and nonentity, implies unobstructed motion, and the necessities for
such motion; and these conditions are the only possible
opposites of one another.
5.
Space abstractly considered may, therefore, be legitimately
and inductively determined to be an infinite vacuum; that is
to say, it would be so if deprived of those embodiments of
molecules or atoms constituting planets, suns, and comets,
which are scattered throughout its illimitable depths.
Space, consequently and finally, is nothing.  Or, if it be an
illimitable ocean of abstract force, in the bosom  of which
matter was originally dissolved and disseminated, was subsequently specialized and differentiated, and is now suspended
in definite compound masses-all in consequence of the action
thereupon of an infinite intellectual energetic principle-it is
probable that that force is immaterial, and metaphysical in
contradistinction to physical, and that it is an unobstructive
medium  of communication between one body and another,
as influences are interchanged by one with the other.




SPACE.                        39
In either aspect of the subject, space, if destitute of all
material creations, would be, in every sense of the word,
a vacuum.  Without matter there would be no magnetism,
no electricity, no heat, no light, no actinism, no forms of any
sort.  All would be darkness and void.  Nature would not
exist.  There would be absolutely nothing.  Hence, space
would be nothing-or an entity without a name-or, so to
speak, only a capacity for holding what might be placed in it
without the power to interfere upon motion or existence.
6,
My object in endeavouring thus to set forth in the beginning of this treatise an exact idea of the nature of space,
as an abstract, and at the same time a positive, comprehensible scientific fact, and if possible to demonstrate its nonentity in contradistinction to its entity, as an attenuated
ethereal condition-a point upon which the opinions of the
learned have been in all ages, and are at this moment, at
variance;-my object in this respect is to show how the discoveries of the immortal Julius Robert Mayer, almost simultaneously announced by Dr. Joule, and established by his
experiments and calculations, and how the knowledge recently
acquired in molecular and terrestrial physics, can be extended
into the widest ranges of distance, time, quantity and motion;
-into ranges wholly cosmical, embracing the sum of matter
and force demonstrably existing and constituting the machinery, the very working powers and agencies of nature.
Matter and mechanical force being both fixed quantities,
limited within fixed and possible fields of action and reaction,
having definite purposes linked to their united and inseparable functions both in their minutest and in their greatest
aspects, Nature exposes herself as a vast laboratory and workshop, dissipates the possibility of chaos, and puts accident
out of the question.




40                 FORCE AND NITURE.
Indeed, since the present state of knowledge permits us to
announce with certainty that neither matter nor force is
increased or diminished in its absolute quantity, and that all
of each which exists is entirely conservable, and must in some
way be correlative, and be so adjusted to or combined with
the other, as when subdivided into masses or volumes to hold
such reciprocal relations with each other as not to vary in
original, fixed, and absolute quantities, powers and functions;
since all this is positively known to science, it becomes selfevident that infinite space is only a void condition of nature
where masses of molecules saturated with opposing forces
may be wholly free to move, and where molecules and
masses of different chemical constitutions and charged with
these antithetic principles must mutually influence each other
dynamically, either directly or indirectly, however widely
separated these masses may be from one another.
Such a state of things being a fundamental physical fact,
force must be considered potential in its essence as a whole
quantity, which, when subdivided among masses and united
with matter, becomes actual and entirely phenomenal working
power, indispensable to material nature, and incapable of
being abstracted or spared from such chemical masses as the
earth, sun, and stars, and radiated from  them  as surplus
energy in any form  into space and be lost in an infinite
wasteful void.
The more this subject is studied as a speciality, the more
clearly and conclusively it will demonstrate its own truths.
And in view of the mechanical principles recently enunciated,
and which will be applied to cosmic phenomena in their
broadest applications in the last chapters of this work, all
speculations upon the ethereal conditions of the interstellar
spaces may be safely set aside, space be regarded as a vacuum
in every sense of the word, and some other mechanical
element than ethereal vibrations sought after by physicists
in order to arrive at exact truth respecting the methods by
which light is transmitted or interchanged between cosmic
bodies.




CHAPTER  II.
MATTER.
1.
MATTER is the opposite of vacuum. It is something. While
space consists of ideal points, matter consists of positive and
material atoms. While space is illimitable, matter must have
some boundary, because it exists within space.  Our first
knowledge of matter is derived from aggregations of molecules such as the planets, moons, comets, and suns, which
are distributed in space, and widely separated from  each
other.  We learn this before knowing the existence of the
molecules which compose them.
2.
It is necessary to consider, in the first place, and in this
connexion, these known forms of matter in relation to the
medium in which they are suspended, simply for the purpose
of distinguishing one from the other, and of impressing upon
the mind the magnitude of both, and the grandeur of all
philosophical inquiry.
Persistent research by the aid of telescopes, chemical and
spectral experiments, and mathematics, has greatly increased




42                 FORCE AND NzATTURE.
our knowledge of the distributions to which we have referred,
and of the phenomena developed by them.  A striking fundamental fact established by two eminent observers, William
Struve in the northern hemisphere, and Sir John F. W.
Herschel in the southern, is that these cosmical bodies are
condensed into a comparatively thin stratum  or zone, rendered evident to us by the Milky Way, or Galaxy, which
extends in circumferential directions to indefinable depths into
space, while in its lateral or polar directions the number of
stars progressively diminishes, in about an equal ratio, until
they become most sparse in those regions of space called the
galactic poles. This wonderful fact, as vast in its significancy
of the movements of matter and the action of universal
forces in pre-terrestrial time as it is suggestive of future discovery when physical laws shall be better understood, must
not be longer overlooked.
Since the days of Magellan and the earliest Portuguese
navigators, mariners have spoken, with deepest interest, of
three conspicuous spots in the antarctic heavens, two of which
are silvery white, while the third is intensely black.  In my
own early explorations, when sailing for several months, at
two different periods, through high southern latitudes, around
the Cape of Good Hope, Van Diemen's Land, and Cape Horn,
encompassing the entire globe, I often observed them with
telescopes, and was impressed with equal curiosity. It is now
well known that the white spots are nebule, while the black
one is an area of great extent, where no star exists, where the
eye may peer into  remotest space unobstructed by any
material obstacle, and where there is apparently an utter void
and endless indefinable night.
An accurate numerical study of our Universe has indeed
resulted in demonstrating an accumulation of stellar masses
from the regions of the galactic poles to the galactic equator;
and in showing that the matter is limited in space in at least
two directions, while its unknown extension in the silvery
zone called the Milky Way demonstrates with equal clearness the direction in which the universe has its largest




IA TTiER.                      43
dimensions. An inference may therefore be drawn from these
premises with scientific rigour, that one of two conditions
priiordially  existed: that, in  pre-universe time, matter
existed either in the state of molecules endowed as definite
chemical elements, crude, chaotic, and concentrated in a
single mass, which, bursting in consequence of the birth of
repulsive force, scattered its fragments through space; or,
that matter existed in the state of molecules universally
diffused, as imagined by Sir William Herschel and Laplace,
which condensed in consequence of the birth of attractive
force.  In either case, molecular forces, with their manifold
physical capacities, must have lain dormant and embryonic in
the womb of passive and undeveloped nature, until Omnipotence touched the central molecule with its overflowing and
everlasting creative energies.
The first universal positive act of nature, as far as physical
events can be traced into the obscurities of the unknown
and infinite past, appears to have been of a purely mechanical
character; —an act by which matter, either as molecules or
masses, arranged itself around a given point in space, as
molecules fall toward, or diverge from, each other in crystallizing, when held in solution: for that symmetry of distribution so palpable to the eye demonstrates the action of laws,
in the arrangement of the heavens, as definite as those which
preside over the formation of a prism. Fortunately for solid'
inquiry, our system is like a watch-tower in the midst of the
Milky Way, and we can look out upon celestial nature in all
directions, as if we were an intelligent atom in the centre of
a double elongated prism. In the shorter axes and diameters,
we might be able to count the other atoms arranged between
ourselves and vacant space, while in the longer axes and
diameters their endless numbers would render all computation impossible.  This fact may be illustrated by the condensation of vapour around our stand-point, upon any part of
the earth. The eye can penetrate the mist above, because the
stratum is thin, and grows successively rarer from the horizon
to the zenith; but as the vapour spreads along the horizon, a




44                 FORCE AND NATTURE.
dense and impenetrable fog appears in consequence of its
greater compactness and indefinite lateral extensions.
This state of stellar distribution, which the studious observations of two illustrious astronomers have precisely determined, and which is undoubtedly one of the most important
astronomical discoveries of recent times, establishes the fact
that masses were moved to effect the physical arrangement of
the heavens, by the same forces, for the same harmonious
purposes, and through the same fundamental and organic laws
which, as physical inquiry permits us to know, preside over
the condensation of molecules into crystals, the formation of
the earth and other planets, and the creation of all things
within the range of human investigation.  As force acts upon
molecules now, so it appears to have acted upon cosmical
masses in the earlier periods of creation, and produced effects
ad infinitum throughout boundless space, which only recent
acquisitions of the human intellect have allowed us to know.
3.
It becomes manifest, then, that if matter has been condensed from remoter regions of space, in order to form our
galactic system, or has been projected from an unique central
mass, ending in the same result; in either case, the stars
which have been distributed outside of this immense zone,
and which diminish in number when counted towards its
poles, are all parts of the same system. And this truth becomes the more palpable, since all, so far as we know, move
in the same direction, and since all are bound together by
such chains of force and mutual influences that the keenest
astronomers have detected no disturbances of harmony in
celestial nature.
But the discovery of these facts and laws, coinciding so
completely with those presiding over the condensation and
mechanical projection of molecules into crystals and planets,




MA  TTEB.                       45
leads to the recognition of another great cosmo-historic fact,
viz. that molecules must have been endowed with embryonic,
that is to say, with positive nucleated or germinal powers to
constitute and establish systems of planetary bodies; or that
systems at least must have been specialized with embryonic
or central forces, prior to their projection into the present
arrangements of the galactic universe.  There is no such
entity as accident, and no such thing as accidental creation in
nature.
4.
By our inquiries, therefore, we are led backward to a
period when molecules existed in conditions and relations to
each other entirely different from their present stellar and
planetary combinations.  If not at first specialized with
specific capacities and functions as chemical elements, condensed, and combined so as to form crystals, and ready to be
projected as perfect worlds and systems, from an unique mass,
they must have been in such diffuse conditions and chaotic
relations as to be wholly beyond our comprehension. They
could not, however, have been in existence for a single
instant, as they are now conditioned, possessing affinities for
force, and moved by mutual relations and reactions, without
the violent development of multifarious phenomena, dynamical, chemical, and morphological.  The dawn of creation,
primal motion among molecules, the primordial action of
molecular forces, would be instantly and inevitably followed
by the manifestation of heat, light, magnetism, and electricity,
the universal subordinates and handmaidens of attraction
and repulsion; and thus the entire realm of chaos would be
quickened into activity and life, and the fashioning of all
things would have its beginning.




CHAPTER IIIf
INERTIA, FORCE, AND MIND.
1.
HOWEVER instructive it may be to investigate the speculations of the ancients, it is no less so to study the ideas
entertained by our immediate ancestors upon subjects which
constitute the bases of existing philosophical theories, and
which have descended into and shaped the mechanical doctrines of the present day.
The atomic theory, as far as traceable into antiquity, was
first proposed by Moschus some time before the Trojan war,
and was revived and set forth in systematic form by Epicurus.  Aristotle and his followers adopted it, and they
enlarged the system by affirming " that in every particle of
"matter there is inherent a sort of mind, the fvoe-  and
" WoTrep  jvX%  (of Aristotle), which they called an ELEMENTAL
MIND, which is the cause of cll its motions and changes."
Leibnitz believed in this doctrine, and extended it systematically, supposing every particle of matter not only to be active,
but also " to have individuality, and a sort of perception of
" its situation in the universe, and of its relation to every part
" of this universe."  This atom, thus endowed, he called a
M~fonad. He affirmed that " particles of matter are continually
active, and continually changing their situation in virtue of' this principle of innate indefinable perception."




INERiTI, FORCE, ANiD MIiND.                47
Newton entertained no such idea.  He held, indeed, an
opposite one. He believed matter to be inert, and that force
lay outside of atoms, acted upon them ab extra, and existed
in an ether which surrounds matter.  When this force was
active and communicated its action to bodies, it was vis viva,
or living force.  When passive, it was vis mortca, or dead
force. Matter, itself inert, possessed nevertheless at the same
time a positive power of being so, the vis insita; and also of
resisting action upon itself of any principle existing within
itself, and this was his vis inertic.
Newton's astonishing discovery of the laws of gravitation
gave his ideas ascendency, and impressed them  forcibly upon
natural philosophy; and the system of mechanical doctrine at
present prevailing is the necessary and normal development
from, and the legitimate product of, the speculative assumption so important to the production of the " Principia."
The assumption that matter is inert (whatever might have
been the mental reservations of Newton upon this point, he
simply reviving the doctrine, for the speculation itself is an
ancient one) was necessary for the application of mathematical formulae to bodies in motion; and natural philosophy
receiving thereby a new, and indeed its first solid impulse,
Newton's followers gradually adopted the idea, without reserve, as an absolute fact, capable of unlimited extension.
Thus an abstract and problematical idea soon concreted
into a sort of general law, and was set forth as a precise
condition both in molecular and celestial dynamics; and for
a long time it exclusively controlled every department of'hysical study.
With a slight modification in terms, the same definition of
matter set forth in natural philosophy over a century since, is
adopted still.  In a work upon the " Principles of Mechanics,
explaining and demonstrating the General Laws of Motion,"
printed in London in 1758, this principle or idea is enunciated as follows: " Vs INERTIA is that innate Force of
" Matter by which it resists any change, and endeavours to
" preserve its present state of motion."




48                  FORC C'   AND NYATURE.
Of late years, however, the views of many philosophers
have been undergoing gradual changes in regard to this idea
of Newton, and much reserve is felt upon the doctrine of the
vis inertice of matter.
The definition of the principle, nevertheless, is still unchanged, and the term  "vis inertise," as still employed in
philosophy, assumes or indicates matter at rest to be without
ability within itself to move, and matter in motion to be
without ability within itself to arrest its motion.
Such a principle or entity we may now safely affirm  (and
most philosophers will sustain the view) has no existence in
nature. It is purely an abstract assumption, entirely imaginative and theoretical, without essence, or existence in fact
-although without such an hypothesis dynamical inquiries
would be almost impossible.  The term must be regarded as
a relic of a period of philosophical speculation when the
subtle spirit of inquiry assumled in discussions errors for facts,
while scholars were positively ignorant of the true nature and
relations of matter and force.
2.
No such dead thing, or principle as inert " vis," exists in
matter.  No molecule or atom  of any element exists without
force within itself; or so interwoven with its minutest imaginable essence or condition as not only to enable, but also
compel it to exert action, and be acted upon by the internal
forces of other particles, or masses of particles.
In the present state of physical knowledge, matter cannot
be demonstrated nor imagined to exist independent of immanent, active force. A molecule has power within itself and
of itself to move, and to move other molecules near enough
to it to receive the influence of its own living force; else
matter of itself has absolutely no existence, and force alone
exists.  Chemical researches into the nature of the elements
and the laws of atomicities, prove not only the existence of




INERTIA, FORCE, AND MIND.                49
molecules, but also the positive and inalienable presence
therein of active energy.  Matter, then, does exist, and is
endowed with living and indestructible forces.  Force could
not exist and be sensibly active without matter; nor could
matter exist and be in any way active, without force. Neither
could exist and still be inactive, or dead.
3.
The study of crystallogeny and morphology leads, furthermore, to the truth that a secret creating agency lies within
matter, or within the force with which every molecule is
endowed; and that the movements of all are controlled
by laws which have been predetermined, and which startle
the mind by their subtlety, universality, order, and fixity.
This final principle is, at least, co-extensive with matter
and force.  And since we know, by microscopic and chemical
inquiry, into what profoundly atomic realms these primal
entities extend on one hand, and, by telescopic, spectroscopic,
and mathematical research, how infinitely they spread through
space on the other, we cannot even conjecture any thing or
principle in nature to be devoid of positive innate energy
or a capacity for geometrical development.
Thus the speculations of Plato, Aristotle, and Leibnitz
appear to be sustained by modern experimental and inductive
inquiry; and I have reason to think that the materialistic
ideas which are now engrafting themselves upon the present
theoretical status of rational and celestial mechanics imust
finally yield to those of a purely metaphysical character.
Leibnitz foresaw and predicted that the mechanical doctrines
of Newton would finally lead social thought into materialism.
But Newton never pretended that his discoveries and assumptions were other than simple steps in scientific progress.
This final principle, the true vis viva and vis formatrix,
being demonstratively coextensive with matter and force, and
T~




50                 FORCE AND NATURE.
still more subtle, is, in every sense, universal and infinite,
filling worlds with influences from  which no molecule can
escape, and amid which no impulse of force, or life, or
thought can be lost.  This principle being universal and
transcendent in subtlety and potency, is so far traceable as to
appear to the human mind supreme, embracing and controlling all matter and all force, and manifesting itself everywhere through them as a geometrical power and predominating agency. Apparent everywhere, and being geometrical in
its sensible and material expressions, it is admitted by mathematicians and the profoundest thinkers to exhibit in this
manner the highest type or most abstract conception of
reason or pure mind and thought.  Thus physics and metaphysics are inseparably linked with each other. With the
latter, however, we shall have nothing to do in the present
work, except to recognise the existence of the principle as a
final, intellectual, all-pervading essence.
4.
There is, therefore, as all will agree, no such thing as inertia
in the universe, all metaphysical speculations to the contrary
notwithstanding.
I would submit, however (a point which must be clear to
every one), that if mistaken principles lie at the foundation of
any investigation, the analysis, throughout its developments,
must be defective, and errors will finally result, monstrous
and momentous in proportion as the problems under solution
are vast and complicated.




CHAPTER  IV.
MOLECULES.
1.
IN the preceding chapters I fairly presented the field into
which all physical objects, forces, and phenomena have been
introduced for eternal action and reaction.
Any system  of physics which ignores the capacities for
reaction in molecules-or the forces of, or central life, so to
speak, in molecules, in any of their combinations or massive
conditions, whether they be in motion or at rest-might be
excused for inexactness were this the dawn of discovery, and
an age of mere speculative inquiry; but when successive new
revelations have overthrown ancient ideas, and science has
assumed solidity and precision, it becomes unpardonable
error in any physicist to cling to false hypotheses, even if no
reasonable substitute be presented instead.  We know that
no such thing as vis inertice can exist in molecules; but that
every molecule is endowed with positive living forces. In a
succeeding chapter I shall present the development of molecular forces into massive and cosmical powers, when I trust
no uncertain conclusions will follow the discussion of this
important branch of the subject.
2.
The existence of matter in the form of ultimate molecules
is known and admitted by all. But the shape of these ultiE 2




52                FORCE AND NATURE.
mate molecules, if they have uniform and special shapes, is
so attenuate that no ultimate atom  can be described from
actual observation of identity and form. Chemistry, crystallography, and morphology, however, all demonstrate in manifold ways and with wonderful clearness the positive existence
of individual molecules, and prove them  to exist as the
elementary bases of larger forms and as elementary products
in the compositions and decompositions of every known substance. At this point of inquiry matter becomes absolutely
as profound in our attempts to fathom its conditions, as if it
were a purely ideal and metaphysical subject of study. But
it is positively material and solid, and we shall soon perceive
it to expand into the grandest fields of visible form and
substantial development.
Whatever the shapes of atoms or the extent of their
divisibility, they never lose their individuality nor their
capacity to embrace and identify themselves with force, and
to follow the movements of its currents and affinities as if
they were not alone vehicles loaded with force, but as if
they were identical with force itself. One system of molecular
physics reduces matter to force alone: another attempts to
demonstrate the birth of atoms and the development of
material forms from pre-existing mechanical force: another
asserts that matter had no origin, but has existed from
eternity: —and so on.  However numerous or ingenious the.
systems of metaphysicians, theologians, or physicists, it is
not my design to discuss nor refer to their relative value or
correctness.  To avoid error upon my own part, I shall endeavour to walk closely with nature alone, looking backward
only where the light of positive science illuminates the path,
and holding steadily upon physical facts and  inductive
reasoning, from the beginning to the end of my discourse.
We know that molecules exist.  This is our first solid
starting-point and stepping-stone.




MOL~ECULES.                      53
3.
Numerous disquisitions have, also, been written upon the
shapes of ultimate atoms by many eminent philosophers from
the days of the earliest Greek thinkers to our own time-all
more or less ingenious, depending upon some special theory
of creation or experimental research into the final nature of
things, and presenting a fair picture of the state of knowledge
which existed when they appeared. It is equally unnecessary
to analyse the correctness of these different opinions, or decide
whether molecules possess hooks, or are cubes, spheres, ellipsoids, or of various other shapes whereby to be dovetailed
and packed together-or whether they are surrounded with
one or several atmospheres of ether or electric fluid, or any
other unknown or fanciful condition, wherewith to fill up the
spaces between their irregular attachments and peripheries.
All these fancies have had their hour, and some are still the
central point in this or that molecular hypothesis. It matters
little at this stage of our study what the shapes of ultimate
atoms may be.  It is only important to know, in the first
place, that they exist as separate individual points, and as
positive physical entities.
This is admitted by all physicists and naturalists at the
present time; and the fact is so far beyond discussion that
further remarks upon the subject would be supererogatory.




CHAPTER V.
MOLECULAR FORCE.
1.
THE existence of molecules as a first step having been
established, the next inquiry is as to their mutual relations.
The same sciences which have watched the combinations
and segregations of molecules so pertinaciously for so many
centuries, have ascertained, and demonstrated incontrovertibly, that molecules, however highly divisible, and whatever
their shapes, can never be kept far distant from each other,
and will, when in each other's neighbourhood, draw towards
one another.  This mutual disposition to unite or adhere to
each other is called attraction. This principle of attraction
is found to exist in all molecules. The fact that attraction
is embodied in every separate and individual atom of matter,
is as positively proven, and as much beyond discussion, as
the fact that molecules themselves have existence.  The
evidences are so numerous and so well known, that it would
be superfluous to introduce them at length here, since there
is nothing elementary in the design of this inquiry. It can
be safely asserted, however, from all that has preceded, that
no molecule is, or can be, dead, inert, or destitute of activity,
since it is never destitute of attractive force, can never be
deprived of the same, and persists in exerting such force
upon every other molecule, in virtue of the secret influence




MLOLECULAR FORCE.                   55
lying within its own bosom, and proceeding out of its own
natural capacity and endowment.
But while the force of attraction exists, and every atom
mutually attracts every other atom, it is proven with equal
certainty that molecules never touch each other, and that
they are kept asunder by another force, the opposite of attraction.  This is called repulsion.  A  thousand experiments
also prove this well-known fact to all who study the first
principles of natural philosophy. There is not a substance
in nature, so far as we know, that is not reducible in bulk to
a greater or less extent by compression or cold, and that will
not enlarge its bulk and occupy more space when heated,
and return again to a less bulk when its attractive and
repulsive forces are permitted to assume a normal equilibrium. Countless researches and experiments of chemists
and physicists have established beyond question the universal
fact that repulsion is an absolute force, dwelling in all molecules, which exerts as constant and mutual an influence from
one upon the other as does that of attraction.  It dwells
and lives within the molecule, and proceeds out of it, in
like manner as attraction, to act upon its neighbour, except that it acts and plays in an opposite direction to the
latter force.
So much is positively known and acknowledged by every
student of nature, from the chemist to the astronomer.
2.'We will pause here, then, for a moment to note our solid
steps, starting-points of knowledge and induction, beacon
lights and monuments of truth to which we must constantly
recur, for bearings and guidance when navigating the infinite
ocean of matter and force upon which we are soon to be
launched. These points of positive truth seem at first almost
metaphysical, when studied in their profoundest conditions;
but in their developments they become so stupendous and




56                 FORCE AND NATURE.
wonderful as almost to bewilder the astronomer and physicist,
and lead them  to doubt whether molecular entities can
expand into planetary forces, and thus become subjects of
cosmical laws.
These solid steps are the recognition of three definite
elements, each of which is as mysterious as thought itself,
viz.:
Molecules,
Molecular attraction, and
Molecular repulsion;
not theoretical abstractions nor assumptions; not mere words
meaning nothing; but the three fundamental terms of an
infinite problem, the solution of which can only be achieved
by the laborious and comprehensive researches of many
generations of experimental observers.




CHAPTER VI.
V'ONION AND INSEPARABILITY OF MATTER AND FORCE.
1.
HITHERTO, for the purpose of clearly comprehending the
scope and fundamental conditions of nature, we have taken a
general glance at space, matter, and force. All are mysteries.
Whatever or whenever their origin, the infinite intelligence
of a Supreme Being is the active principle above and within
them all, and upon this they depend for their continuance
and development into endless forms.
2.
Our discussion of molecules and of attraction and repulsion has presented them  as distinct, separate, and positive
entities, the existence of which, as the working material and
dynamical powers of nature, lies at the bottom of all things.
It is desirable to receive these facts so deeply and clearly into
the mind, that they may never be lost sight of in our future
study of their diversified relations, combinations, and reactions.  All science is built upon them, and it must be
necessarily more or less imperfect as the value of either of
these elements is overlooked or disregarded in any department of physical research.
While, however, all these three things, molecules, attraction, and repulsion, are separate and definite objects and
subjects of themselves, and can be demonstrated to be so, it




58                7FORCE AND) N1VTTITURE.
is equally true that they all exist in combination, and are
inseparable one from the other, wherever matter exists within
our observation and study.  But our senses, or material
organs, recognise only the material Iart of these three mysterious elements; and through this alone is made known to
our intelligence the existence of the other two, which appear
not to be material, but as subtle as mind itself.
While it is positively true that all three exist in combination, and that molecules, as we know them, could not exist
without being part and parcel, so to speak, of these forces, or
loaded with them as an orange is distended with juices which
are sweet and sour at the same time, and without all three of
which-pulp, and sour and sweet flavours-the fruit would
not be an orange; while it is thus certain that molecules
cannot exist, as we know them, without active union with
attraction and repulsion, and that enormous aggregations of
atoms embody proportionally enormous aggregations of force;
many physicists question whether the  entire  amount of
attractive and repulsive force in the universe is exhaustively
combined with, and concentrated in, the masses of matter
which we behold as planets, and number as stars throughout
the realms of space. Force is not matter: yet it is always manifested to us through matter, and it can never be manifested
through matter unless it combines with that matter. Molecules, attraction, and repulsion are all three distinct creations.
Yet neither can exist as a manifest entity and dynamical
agency without an inseparable union with the other two,
albeit this union may be in different and fluctuating proportions of each to the other; and although force may flow into,
unite with, and part again from molecules, as food unites with
our bodies and separates again to give place to other increments, it is nevertheless for the time being a part of each
molecule, and endows it with life and activity. Moreover,
from all our studies of molecules, we know that they are never
annihilated and never destitute of force; and that their
nature and mutual relations are such that they never can be
in a state of inertia.   While Dr. Louis Biichner and his




UNION AND INSEPARABII.ITY OPF IIATEIRR AND FORCE. 59
followers would define force in every sense as a simple
attribute of matter, I should define matter to be an equally
active and universal attribute of force-in the same light,
for instance, that God is as much an attribute of omnipresence, omnipotence, and  omniscience, as these  three
inseparable principles are attributes of God.
A molecule lies in a certain sense as a neutral yet sensitive
element between the other two elements, which are of themselves positively antagonistic to each other; both, however,
having equal affinities for matter (and matter, as atomicities,
unequal but positive affinities for them), and manifesting
their peculiar characteristics and activities through matter,
as a third and necessary condition, whereby to effect the
creation of the secondary forces of light, heat, magnetism, &c.
and of all mineral, vegetable, and animal forms which constitute nature.  Thus is laid the foundation of that state of
things whereby matter and force, combining, decomposing,
and recombining, have slowly, gradually, and persistently
unfolded the stupendous mysteries and endless complexities
of physical and organic being.
3.
Notwithstanding all this, it is generally supposed that
light and gravitation also exist in the state of positive and
conservative currents of force in the interplanetary spaces,
constantly playing from  each to every other cosmical body;
thus exchanging the mysterious effluences and influences of
all, and contributing in part to sustain the mechanical movements so demonstrable in the universe.  Whether this be so,
and the manner in which force acts between bodies widely
distant from  each other, may be more clearly determined, as
the subject develops itself under subsequent treatment.
For the present, however, I would confine attention exclusively to the point, that attraction and repulsion exist in
permanent and active union with molecules, and are inseparable from them.




CHAPTER VII.
NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.
Attraction.
1.
WHILE nothing is, or probably will ever be, known of the
final nature of force per se, a knowledge of its character and
action is entirely within the boundaries of human research.
Force, as already described-that is, primitive, phenomenal,
or creative force, the force from which all other forces, all
forms, and all combinations of force and matter spring-is, I
hold, of two kinds.  They are represented by the words attractive and repulsive.  As they are dissimilar, and positively
antagonistic, in character and action, no discussion can embrace both within a single treatment. Each must be analysed
by itself, and in such a manner, that no confusion or doubt
may remain relative to the laws and method by which the
action of these forces upon, and their combination with, molecules are effected and governed.  By rigorously pursuing
atoms, whether they aggregate or segregate, we shall as
rigorously grapple force, and at last become so familiar with
its movements as to begin to detect the secret of its nature,
and be able to discuss it as an object almost palpable and
wholly distinct from matter itself. So clearly will the knowledge of force, as an entity, a positive though invisible and
immaterial something, become impressed upon the under



NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.               61
standing, that, as the subject develops, we shall find it less
important and  instructive to contemplate  molecules and
masses as mere matter, than the active and motive principles with which they are endowed. Matter, when viewed as
a neutral agent-that is, molecules viewed as neutral points
-will almost vanish for a moment in an active or positive
aspect, so that we shall scarcely wonder that Newton and
other mechanical philosophers have at any time treated
matter as an inert object, per se, and that certain thinkers
have sometimes altogether rejected the idea that matter is a
substantial entity.
2.
Since the importance of the subject demands a separate
and exclusive treatment for both attraction and repulsion,
from their incipient molecular conditions to their grandest
cosmical developments, it will promote a clearer understanding
of their action and mutual relations if the analysis be opened
with the consideration of the former. This is the force the
influences and action of which have been the most assiduously
studied, and the astronomical expansions of which were
reduced by Newton, toward the close of the seventeenth
century, to definite numerical laws. There is every advantage
to be gained, besides, in attempting to explore the realms of
uncertainty and of the unknown, from scientific points which
have already been definitely established.
In the chapter on "Inertia" it was stated that atoms and
masses are never dead or inert, but constantly charged with
active central forces; and it will be important to look back
for a moment, for the purpose of showing how conclusively
this point is proved by the wonderful discovery of gravitation.
I use the word " gravitation" here to express simply the
numeerical law which presides over the force of attraction.
The discovery of Newton has determined this force to act in
its cosmical expansions in direct proportion to the quantity of




62                 FORCE AdND NA YTUR
matter-that is, the number of molecules-in masses, and
inversely as the squares of the distances of these masses from
one another.  This is a pure mathematical discovery of
quantity, without discovery or demonstration of the nature,
characteristics, or mechanism of physical force, or of its
secret method of action, whereby to constitute planets or to
produce diminutives or multiples of power; nor does it pretend
to open clearly the mind to a comprehension of the methodor modus operandi-by which matter combines so as to effect
cohesion, adhesion, or any other form of attraction by which
atoms are aggregated into masses and maintained in a system
of moving spheres. But in this immortal discovery of Newton
lies the hidden law of potency in molecules, as well as in
planets.  Attraction, as an active, indwelling, central, and
indestructible force, must exist in every atom, since it exists
in the whole earth, or in the entire mass of any body; for no
demonstration can prove a planet to be endowed with the
power of drawing other bodies to itself, and of responding to
the attraction of the sun, in direct proportion to the quantity
or number of molecules embraced in it, and still allow scope
for admitting its separate molecules to be destitute of innate
force, or to be in any sense inert.  Molecules, and planets,
and fragments of planets, therefore, wherever existing in the
realms of space, are replete with the same force which the
genius of Newton reduced to exact and unchangeable law.
It may seem supererogatory to reproduce these points in
this connexion; but as they have the widest bearing upon
the graphical developments of all the sciences, it is important
to cement these so firmly, that no succeeding step shall lack
stability in consequence of uncertain or inexact antecedents,
Thus are the foundations laid for the development of a
solid and harmonious philosophy: vacant space for unimpeded motion; molecules, the bases of all material forms;
attraction and repulsion, opposite fundamental forces always
in combination with molecules; and molecules themselves
so instituted primordially with an occult geometric energy
that both attractive and repulsive force have an equal and




NAT2URE AND ACTION OF FORCE.               63
perfect affinity for them, and play through them and between
them  in obedience to laws so definitely exact that masses
and distances, whatever their magnitude, may be weighed
and measured with as much accuracy as the mass and angles
of natural crystals.
Such is the field of exploration-so vast that no single
mind can embrace its endless developments, and yet at foundation so limited that the principles implanted in the germs
of things appear to be extremely few and simple.
The points already established are, that all masses are
made up of molecules; that each and every molecule is
possessed of an individual force of attraction through which
it attaches itself to another, and that all these individual
molecular forces combine in such a manner as to assume
ponderous units, or a central attractive force, in proportion to
the number or quantity of molecules in any particular body.
3.
The point to be next demonstratedc is the secret principle
through which  molecular attraction  so acts as to cause
cohesion of atoms, adhesion of masses, the falling of bodies
to the earth, the gravitation of planets to the sun, and the
rolling of the sun and of all its attendant spheres through the
immensity of space-in a word, through which the augmentation of molecular force is effected so as to produce units
of attraction, whose single central power becomes proportional to the number of molecules in such masses.  This is
one of the most interesting subjects of research, and is
pregnant with the grandest consequences in every practical
department of knowledge, as will be hereafter apparent when
it shall be more fully unfolded and completely understood.
It is manifest that the juxtaposition of molecules effects
such mutual changes in their individual characters, that each
loses identity and individuality in the magnitude of all, and
that each becomes of greater importance in proportion to




64                  FORCE AND NATURE.
the number of others with which it is associated.  When
separated they are comparatively nothing: when joined they
exhibit energetic functions. We are now only contemplating
simple atoms and simple attractive force; not the universal
and  compound  energies of nature  which  were  aroused
when attraction and repulsion, both playing alike upon and
through molecules and  suns, and interchanging their respective energies throughout creation, had unfolded the present grandeur and glory of the universe. It is the simplest
beginning of things we are attempting to analyse; and as
we trace the aggregation of molecules into masses, we discover that the attraction of the latter augments in such a
manner as not only to bind the molecules into conditions of
solidity, producing various degrees of hardness and specific
gravity, but also to manifest an augmenting and still an
unique volume of force in proportion to the number of molecules.  The individual forces appear to run together, lose
their separate individuality, and coalesce exactly as we know
that particles of vapour coalesce to form a drop of water, and
exactly as we see two drops of water coalesce and become
one, or various particles of quicksilver run together and
become an unique drop, with a single force acting from its
centre to its surface to give it sphericity, in like manner as
a smaller unit of force acted from  the circumference to the
centre of the several original particles to give each of them
a similar sphericity.
These illustrations might be indefinitely multiplied by
examples drawn from  the coalescence of fluids and gases,
from the coalescence by induction of the secondary forces,
magnetism, electricity, &c. of similar sorts; and they will
serve to convey my conception to other minds, and communicate the idea and truth of the secret capacities expressed,
and the modes of operation and coalition which act between
the molecular forces-capacities and methods through which,
indeed, the latter unite to become planetary powers, and
assume gravity in infinite quantities.  It is at this point
that the mind may temporarily drop the recognition of matter,




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                   65
forget it entirely for a moment, and discuss force alone.
Thus, force-the attractive force-one of the two mighty
and universal powers of nature-a veritable dynamic and
motive principle, embodied in planets and suns-is seen
to be capable of flowing like a fluid, of coalescing and
unifying, of being separated and recombining, like water or
quicksilver, in particles, drops, or oceans; and it will be
further perceived that this very property of molecular force,
as thus  demonstrated, saturates worlds to repletion  and
thereby becomes the secret principle of gravitation  itself.
Indeed it is the active living force in each particle of water,
mercury, or other matter, which coalesces; and not the particles themselves.  Molecules simply cohere  through this
tendency for unity inherent in attraction.  Multitudes of
molecular forces change into a single unit of force in  a
cohering mass of atoms, and each atom becomes bound to the
rest by the accumulated energy acquired through the union of
all.  Particles of matter, under this treatment, become mere
particles of force, or, at most, merely neutral and plastic
elements suspended in the closest juxtaposition in a volume
or sphere of force.  By way of illustration, they may be
represented as saline molecules, at first diffused and imperceptible by solution in a transparent medium, which subsequently becomes solid and visible through crystallization.
As force condenses into definite volumes, atoms follow, or
rather move with its movements, and are constrained  into
narrower limits in obedience to inherent law.  Thus is cohesion effected.  Force possesses-that is to say, molecular
attractive forces possess-the inherent property of running
together, mixing, centralizing, and magnifying their energies
in certain numerical ratios.  Atoms, always alive in their
affinities for attractive force, or for combinations with it,
follow its currents into the nearest juxtaposition. It appears
to be this property of attraction, as a specific and fundamental
principle, to combine exclusively with its cognate, and to
flow from the extremest boundaries of space to seek its like,
in order if possible to coalesce and be united into one single
F




66                  FORCE AND NiATURE.
concentrated volume of invisible energy, which constitutes
gravitation; and planets and suns, saturated with this essence,
are moved by its tendencies to unite mutually with one
another —which tendencies, encountering the antagonistic
influences of repulsive force already developed also into cosmical quantities, extending its energies through equal areas,
and exerting unequal and fluctuating degrees of power, like
gravitation, produce the paths and orbits of the celestial
masses which are composed of heterogeneous elements.
All this cosmic action we shall perceive, further on, to result
from the chemical constitution of these bodies.
4.
I do not mean to anticipate in this connexion the development of points reserved for subsequent consideration; but
simply to throw in occasional striking facts, illustrations, or
contrasting conditions in order to bring out more strongly the
great principles which I am attempting to delineate, and to
establish my present position upon irrefutable foundations.
Returning from  this broad consideration of force and fact
to the narrow point of molecular attraction, I repeat that
it is by this tendency and capacity of force to unite intimately, and remain in unity, that the thousand common
phenomena of cohesion, adhesion, and visible attractive
movements of all sorts are effected.  Various illustrations
will prove this.  Sheets of ice whose surfaces are in coaptation become absolutely one body; all points of contact are soon obliterated; and every stratum  closes into a
single mass.  This union of matter and force is as perfect
as the cohesion of condensed vapour; and the centre of
gravity of the entire mass changes with the addition or
abstraction of every sheet, or any atom.  Plates of glass,
placed together, in like manner present a similar phenomenon.  The attractive force embodied in each immediately




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                67
coalesces, and the plates adhere; in process of time, they
become almost welded into one, and cannot be separated
without fracture.  Capillary attraction is but another act of
this same property of molecular force to coalesce with that of
its neighbouring molecules, and to carry its molecule with it,
where free to do so; and it lies also at the basis of every act
of endosmosis and dialysis, and of a multitude of other
phenomena which have puzzled philosophers and naturalists.
Floating substances, placed within given distances, in a basin
of water, will attract, and adhere to, each other; and be
attracted by, and adhere to, the sides of the basin.  Ships
on a calm sea, within limited distances of one another, will
also reciprocally approach and collide, in consequence of the
molecular forces in each exerting their effort to coalesce and
form  one volume.  These various acts are not results of
electric or magnetic affinities, strictly speaking; but are dependent, rather, upon a principle still more profound, which
enters into the secret of the polarity of force; polarity being
considered as the subtle law or expression of the function or
powers of segregation and segmentation, and of assimilation,
which exists in the two abstract forces of attraction and
repulsion, and which makes itself sensible through molecules and atomicities, simultaneously with the development
of thermic, electric, and magnetic forces-secondary phenomena, which spring up (as we shall learn in a future chapter)
when the radical forces play antithetically through molecules, and when all nature has become animated with compound and heterogeneous influences, the oscillating action
and reaction of which end in developing phenomena of both
the subtlest and grandest characters.
5.
This explanation of the nature and action of attractive
force embraces also the secret of the cementing and consolidation of rocky strata and conglomerates, and of the preservaF 2




68                 FORCE AND NATURE.
tion of fossil organisms, and of many other geological phenomena observable throughout the crust of our planet.  The
longer the attractive force has poured into and through molecules in cosmical currents and with accumulated volumes,
the closer their juxtaposition, and the denser and heavier
do  masses  become; —in  other words, the  greater their
affinity and assimilation, and the stronger and more intimate their union with themselves, and with the planetary volume with which they are connected.  The attraction
in everything which falls to the earth or which in the
solar system is in any way connected with it, is endeavouring
to combine with the like principle in the earth, and vice
versa, attraction being reciprocal, and in direct proportion
to the quantity or number of molecules in each object. It
must be borne in mind that it is not matter which, under
present aspects of discussion, combines with matter.  The
recognition of this was temporarily dropped, and we now
behold force alone combining with force; and molecules
reduced to mere plastic agents whose affinities, or powers of
absorption, association, assimilation, tension, and displacement, we shall subsequently discover to he alive to every
modification of force, and whose inherent nature is to concentrate and retain force within themselves, and magnify its
manifestations in proportion to their number and juxtap]osition.
Thus the mighty volume of attractive force in the earth
holds such affinity for and control over the same force in
everything upon and near its surface, even over that which
fashions and fills the moon (an object nearly one quarter of
a million of miles distant from its centre), that the molecular
forces of all these things are being drawn into it as if it were
an absolute vortex.  And  it is not improbable that the
speculative attempts of Descartes and his disciples to explain
the secrets of creation by vortices of force might have been
based upon this idea, which occurs to me only as a figure of
speech to illustrate the tendency of separate volumes of
attractive force mutually to unite into a single body and to




1NATUERE,iN) iD ACJI7ON OF FORCE,           69
combine in all proportions and quantities.  In whatever light
it may be delineated or discussed, such is the certain action
of attractive force.  Every point of its invisible and immaterial entity holds affinity for every other point, and
wherever existing it is striving to combine and create larger
volumes, as physics plainly teaches when bodies fall to the
earth, and as astronomy confirms with remarkable emphasis
where the planetary forces exert such mighty movements to
effect union with a kindred force embodied in the sun.  This
union of all planetary volumes of attraction in our solar
system with that of the sun would be as certainly effected as
the union of falling bodies with the earth, were there not an
antagonistic force in nature (to be discussed hereafter) to
constrain cosmical masses into definite paths of motion, and
maintain them at various distances from the central body.
6.
It is manifest that the combination of the diminutives of
attractive force constitutes massive attraction; and it will
soon become equally clear that the disposition to combine
existing in all masses constitutes gravitation, and that these
words are  synonymous, whether applied to attraction in
molecules or suns. If the act of gravitation or of mutual
attraction were not counteracted by sufficient cause, any body
near its surface would fall to the earth and coalesce with it.
Even if counteracted in space, as the earth, for instance, is
checked in its fall to the sun by some opposing cause, it will
nevertheless perpetually strive to effect union, and thus the
planet loaded with force will for ever move in a definite path
around the attracting centre.  Gravitation is the same everywhere.  Its character and action, defined by a simple word,
is the weight of a body in comparison with that of another
body.  In exact terms, "weight" or "gravity" is the aggregate, represented numerically, of the molecular forces in any




70                 FORCE AND NAT;URE.
body, which are striving to unite and coalesce with similar
forces in the earth, and which are prevented from doing so
by some mechanical obstacle, the value of which may be
determined by certain graduated mechanical inventions.  In
physical astronomy it indicates the quantity of the molecular forces in the earth or any other planet, which are
striving in vain to combine with like forces in the sun. The
attraction of the earth's centre acting upon any thing, causes
the molecular forces in that thing to move toward it, thereby
drawing in order to absorb them into its central sum, and unite
the thing with the solid mass; and this effort of the smaller
force to unite with the greater, involves the actual movement of matter and force, which mutually embrace each
other.  If this movement be prevented by such conditions of
resistance as are capable of accurate mathematical measurements, the thing is said to be "weighed."  Specific gravity is
only another name for the same force when more accurately
calculated by definite comparisons with a given amount of force.
WVeight and gravitation are equivalent terms, in so far as both
represent dynamical action, or an effort of the molecular
attractive forces, inhabiting different masses, to combine and
make one volume of matter and force.  It is well known that
all forms of matter-that is to say, both atoms and masses,
whatever may be their physical, chemical, or organic conditions-are subject to this fundamental principle, and obedient
to its influence and movements.  It becomes manifest, then,
that it is force which moves matter, and not the matter which
moves itself, or which acts upon other atoms and masses.
Matter possesses inherent susceptibilities and affinities for the
attractive principle, but is of itself a mere vehicle-a neutral
agent-an obedient, subservient slave.  The fundamental
nature of atoms is to possess and hold force as a bladder
holds water; a sack, meal; a cask, beer; a ship, cargo; a
stomach, food; a cell, or a man, life.  Their final function is
to obey an all-pervading power more profound, subtle, secret,
and commanding than attraction and repulsion themselves.
Through this they spring into geometrical and organic sub



NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.               71
stance and form; and, thus creating a complex system of
nature by their dynamical collisions, combinations, and disintegrations, they impress sense and consciousness by their
multifarious capabilities and developments, and connect finite
mind, the crowning elaboration of molecules and force, with
the eternal principle which originated, exists in, and controls
all things, and which is, indeed, absolute mind itself, filling
space and eternity, and in comparison with the vastness of
which all else is as nothing.
7.
Such is the nature of matter; such the action of force.
This subtle, immaterial, mysterious, active entity moves
and flies, so to speak, with inconceivable and accumulative
rapidity; and atoms, aggregated into masses of all forms and
magnitudes, are swept along, charged with it and enfolded in
its grasp.  Atoms and force are inseparable. Neither moves
separately.  One does not follow the other, except in our own
conceptions of their correlative action. This differential conception is only apparent, and springs from the succession of
our ideas.  Both, in fact, move simultaneously, although force
is the inherent motive agent in a molecule, in like manner as
volition is the real man-neither being of itself inert, but
volition the power, and man its obedient representative and
dynamical agent.
Under the light of the preceding study, the reasons become
apparent why matter moves in such directions as "gravitation" transports it.  It is, in a word, because volumes of
attractive force, as living entities, sensitive to and possessing
affinities for other volumes of similar force more or less
distant elsewhere, strive mutually to combine in order to
become a unit, that many phenomena exhibited by matter
in motion have awakened the attention of the human mind,
and led to great discoveries in astronomy and dynamics.




72                 FORCE AND NATURE.
In the succeeding chapter we shall discuss the character
and developments of repulsion, and attempt to discover the
action of a force opposite in all its tendencies and effects to
that of attraction.
Still later, we shall perceive how both these forces act upon
matter, and thereby produce those compound motions of cosmical bodies whose distances are so nicely measured, and
whose quantities are so exactly balanced with each other,
that the heavens become an unique machine, whose clockwork is so regular and harmonious that the ingenuity of man
can there detect no error (except it be his own), and whose
perfectness of design and majesty of execution proclaim the
universality of a Being so veiled in the stupendous glory of
His own acts, that the profoundest philosopher bows, like
Moses on Sinai, before the passing presence, and lifts his
eyes to behold only the shadowy spectre of some Living a.d
Almighty Power.




CHAPTER  VIII,
NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.
Repulsion.
1.
IN the preceding chapter I have endeavoured to trace the
unfolding of attractive force from its molecular functions to
its cosmical magnitudes; to establish the identity of character,
action, and origin of both these conditions of force; and to
elucidate by discussion the basis in nature of the numerical law discovered by Newton, which has for ever determined the two facts, that all bodies attract each other with
a force directly proportionate to their respective massesthat is to say, to the number of molecules embraced in each
mass-and inversely proportionate to the squares of the distances between these bodies.
I have endeavoured to explain why everything falls perpendicularly toward the earth's centre throughout its surface,
and why everything in our solar system, planet and atom
equally, is constantly striving to fall into the sun, upon the
ground that it is the nature of the attractive force of molecules, independently of the molecules themselves, to become
absorbed in and transformed into the attractive forces of all
other molecules which they approach, and with which they
come in contact, in order thereby to form one volume of force
and one body of matter.  If atoms enough were free to move




74                 FORCE AND NA TURE.
in infinite space, so that when brought together they might
constitute a mass like our earth, I merely assert that the inherent nature of the attractive force in each molecule is such
that it would combine with that of every other, and become
continually more potent as a single and centralized power
in proportion as the mass increased by increments of additional molecules; and that as the molecular force acts from
the centre of every molecule, so the accumulated forces
become a central function in every mass, and in the growth
of every mass, until the earth itself be formed with a centre
of gravity determined by the union and centralization of
every molecular force embraced in the original atoms as
they existed before they were swept into the mass. I would
be understood to mean, speaking generally, that only the
force in each original atom now combined to form this planet
constitutes its planetary or cosmical force of attraction; and
that this, as a unit, is represented by the potency of its
central gravity, and that all these original molecular forces
respond now, as a single central force, to the solar attraction; and finally, that this is the true description of -the
elements of the numerical law  of gravitation, propounded
and demonstrated by Newton in his "Principia."  The action
of the molecular forces which converge and react through
infinite radii in a round drop of water or of quicksilver, and
which associate and condense or centralize themselves, so to
speak, in order to present a unit of force and of weight, and
thereby to constitute also a spherical volume of matter whose
centre of gravity becomes pregnant with power by every
increment of atoms-this action is the exact representative
and counterpart of that which takes place in a planet or sun
when atomas and force are permitted to move freely in space
and coalesce in infinite quantities. Cohesion as a physical
phenomenon is necessarily involved in this result, but the
chemical and vital forces so modify its action that we are not
permitted to observe its simple effects aside from. complex
conditions. These complex conditions-a subject to be hereafter discussed-produce the endless irregularities of form,




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                  75
differences in density, and other general properties of bodies
observable in nature, and so act upon different things, that
while certain chemical and complex compounds of unyielding
density, like rocks for instance, lie at angles in relation to the
centre, others, like water, a mobile element, present no impediment to the action of that law which prevails throughout
nature to arrange molecules into spherical masses, whether
they be spherical particles of vapour or globes of atoms as
large as the sun or Sirius. All objects are grasped alike by
this adhesive force, for while the water clings to the globe in
a broad sheet diffused equally over the terrestrial ball, the rock
is bound just as strongly throughout its angular bulk in proportion to the number of atoms it may contain.  It is this
disposition of attractive force in all bodies, whatever their
form or composition, to run together, coalesce, centralize, and
become accumulative into a single volume to any extent or
degree; to hold irregular masses together; and to sweep atoms
along with it so as to create drops floating in the air, or globes
rolling through the heavens, which I have endeavoured to
trace and illustrate, in the preceding chapter. These facts lie
at the basis of Newton's universal law.
Immediately opposed to this force appears another of equal
magnitude and importance, which has heretofore been ignored
by physicists, but which as certainly exists, and plays as
important a role in nature as gravitation itself.
This is retpulsioin.
2.
Heretofore, gravitation has been considered, and it is still
taught to be, the only FORcE which controls the movements of
the heavens and determines the stability of universal nature.
Newton, in order to arrive at his great numerical law, assumed
that a planet was of itself an inert body, subject to attraction,
and set in motion by some infinite unknown impulse; and
that, if undisturbed by any other body, or by any outside




76                FORCE AND NTURE.
force, the planet thus in motion would move for ever in a
right line in consequence of its original momentum. Two or
any number of bodies, thus projected into space, were supposed to have been mutually diverted towards each other
with degrees of attraction differing directly in proportion to
their masses, and inversely as the squares of their distances
asunder: and it was assumed, further, that they would finally
come together, unless their respective initiative impulses had
been so different as to impress them with specific but various
degrees of motion. These bodies, moving in right lines with
varying momenta, and influencing each other with various
degrees of attraction, thus mutually modified their respective
movements, and in this manner their original right lines of
motion were changed into curved ones; and the planetary
orbits with their different degrees of eccentricity became established in virtue of the united action of these two conditions
-the projective impulse and the gravitative force. Orbits
once established by the potencies of these two functions-the
first assumed, the last positive and known-there appeared
to Newton no reason why they would not remain the same
for ever.
Thus the present theory  of celestial mechanics was
initiated; and  the numerical laws  of gravitation were
brought to light by the mechanical inventions and mathematical inspirations of the immortal Newton. This wonderful
achievement, based half on fact, half on assumption, having
been accomplished, the human intellect, as if exhausted by
the grandeur of so vast a scientific step, paused for another
century.  Such lofty lights of thought have dawned from
time to time upon science with a periodicity so remarkable,
that devout students of nature have often become impressed
with the belief that Divine Wisdom matures the conditions,
and kindles the flame which is to illuminate them from the
fires of its own altar. With Copernicus, born 1473, the
heavens began for the first time to unveil the infinite glory of
the One True God, and to reveal the secrets of eternity and
space to common humanity. The following century Tylho




NAiiUREI ANB\T  ACT'ION OVP FORCE.        77
Brahe (1546), Galileo (1564), and Kepler (1571) opened
still more widely and conspicuously the wonders of this
vast arcanum. Another centennial ushered in Newton (1642)
and Leibnitz (1646), who may be said to have vanquished
the powers of the sun and stars, insomuch that by the application of numbers to the magnitudes, distances, and orbits of
bodies already discovered, a method of knowledge and investigation not possessed by former astronomers, they adjusted
the balances of the universe, established the numerical
functions of planetary attraction, and weighed the sun, moon,
and planets, as a merchant weighs feathers or iron with
his steelyards.  And now, a century later, appeared Laplace,
another profound  explorer of the universe, who, struck
with  the  uniformity  of many astronomical phenomena,
conceived and propounded the idea that the solar system
in preplanetary periods had  existed in nebulous conditions as a vast volume of molecular dust and vapour, and
that from  this form  of matter, set into revolving motion
from  west to east by some unknown cause, had at last
been evolved, by successive coolings and  condensations,
comets, planets, moons, asteroids, aerolites, and, ultimately,
the sun. The almost uniform westerly-eastern motion pursued
by all these bodies upon their respective axes and around
each other, was asserted to be conclusive proof of this doctrine.
The conception of so vast and simple a scheme of creation
was indeed grand, and worthy to be ranked with that most
ingenious postulate of Newton from which had been elaborated the universal law  of gravitation.  So, astronomical
knowledge has been developed by successive intellectual
movements of a centennial character, each step dependent
upon the preceding, and each leading to clearer insight into
the profoundest secrets of nature.
The projectile impulse assumed by Newton, and so necessary
to play one of the important parts in his theory of celestial
mechanics, was thus supplanted by a new theory of centrifugal motion-a theory purely mechanical also, like the
Newtonian conception, but differing in so far that a mecha



78                 FORCE JAND NATURE.
nical origin could be accounted for in the latter, while the
earlier assumed the heavenly bodies to have been already
created and completed when projected into rectilinear paths.
It will be seen that in both these hypotheses their illustrious
authors founded their views of celestial motion upon conjectural bases, csstmiLng in both cases some foreign impulse to
have impinged upon great masses, although under different
circumstances, and that they did not found their deductions
upon the fundamental forces and functions of the molecules
which constituted the collective and individual bodies of the
solar system.  These hypotheses, although fortified by the
tacit support of all astronomers and mathematicians, and
taught as academic truisms, remain nevertheless to this very
day only simple theories, as in the day of their invocation
from the abysms of chaos. They have, indeed, accomplished
the invaluable work for which they were invented.  For, the
quantity of one positive term  being known to the calculus
with others more or less established, celestial problems of
great complexity may be solved with astonishing accuracy.
3.
Now it so happens, that two opposing forces, acting more
or less unequally upon bodies in motion, will compel them
to deviate from  rectilinear or move in curvilinear paths.
Attraction as a principle, as a something influencing matter,
was known from observations of magnetic and electric phenomena before the time of Newton; but the numerical value
of this attraction-that is, its power, or force of gravity, or
weight, in proportion to masses of matter and their distances
from each other-was not known until Leibnitz and Newton
applied their new methods of notation to this subject, both
having discovered the higher powers of the calculus independently of each other and at the same time, as if by inspiration.
The sizes and orbits of certain celestial bodies being known, and




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.               79
the distances, for instance, of the earth, sun, and moon being
also given, it may seem simple enough to mathematicians in
these days to determine the numerical force of gravitation.
But it was not so easy before Leibnitz, Newton, Horrox (a
gifted youth, who died at the age of twenty-three), and a
constellation of other remarkable men appeared, as if by a
miracle, at about the same time, to unlock those new and
profound secrets of the Infinite mind. Nothing comparatively was known in those days, of experimental physics, of
chemistry, or of the character of atoms which constitutes
the basis of the latter science. Alchemy had not advanced
much beyond the general speculative opinions of Thales,
Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient Greek philosophers; and
even the nominal forces of atoms, that is, attraction and
repulsion, were not taken into account in any of the rude
scientific processes of those days. Everything done, generally
speaking, was wild experiment based upon wilder theories of
the properties, abilities, and capabilities of gross matter. How,
then, can it be expected that notions upon so speculative a
subject as ultimate atoms should have entered into mathematical calculations involving the movements of appreciable
masses and immense globes of composite chemical elements
whirling through space in consequence apparently of some
mechanical impulse, and flying around each other in virtue of
an innate vis inertice with a thousand times the rapidity of the
strongest wind? Nevertheless, fundamental ideas were not
wholly disregarded by Newton; but he failed to satisfy himself that any other principle than attraction of mass for mass,
each of which was set in motion by some conjectured exterior impulse equal to the attractive force, was necessary to
establish planetary motion, and maintain the stability of the
solar system. This was the goal he sought, and nothing more,
in this direction.  It was sufficient for him and his day. He
imagined gravitation to be the only positive, active, universal
force existing and directly operating upon the heavenly
bodies; and that this gravitative attraction acting (in virtue
of some principle of pressure in the ether —-a principle alto



8                  FORCE AN1D N)ATURE.
gether ab extra) upon the vis inertice of planets already under
a lomnentum assumed to have been previously communicated,
is the entire and only force necessary to explain every phenomenon of planetary form and orbit, and to maintain the
general equilibrium of cosmical nature. This doctrine, that
gravitation is an unique and the only universal active force,
has not only prevailed from  Newton's day to ours, but is
so strengthened by the approval of successive generations
of illustrious astronomers,'mathematicians, physicists, and
teachers, that to shake and expand it seems almost as impossible as to move the world. No other function than this
asstmed momentum  may indeed be absolutely necessary to
the calculus as applied to physical astronomy; and since
solutions of celestial problems so constantly comport with
theory, it naturally is held sufficient to satisfy the demands of
this science.  But many facts in natural philosophy, geology,
and other branches of study, are difficult of explanation,
and apparently inexplicable without a development of this
hypothesis.  Indeed, so wide a chasm  now  exists between
molecular and cosmical physics, and is likely to continue to
exist, so long as this doctrine is held in its present limited
form and in such exclusive favour by astronomers, that any
attempt to expand theoretical principles so far as to embrace
every class of phenomena in a simple system of explanation,
must be most welcome to those who feel the present necessities of science.
The point assumed by Newton was of incalculable importance. It cannot be over-estimated. It was the happiest
of conceptions, pregnant with the grandest of consequences.
He boldly assumed a datum-which happily proves itself to
be numerically an equal, although opposite, force and function
to those which appear in cosmical attraction-and from this
datum he evolved the laws of gravitation, the most ingenious
and wonderful discovery of all time. The principle of the
Newtonian theory is the simple assumption of a body in
motion with a given momentum.  It ignores the nature and
origin of the force which: imparts the impulse, and the




NATURE A1VD ACTION OF FORCE               81
method by which the motion is initiated.  In this theory of
celestial mechanics, its founder and his followers have no
occasion to regard the one or to discuss the other.  It was
only the gravitation of various bodies toward each other
according to their magnitudes and distances, which Newton
discussed mathematically. His treatment of the subject was
not graphical and general. All this he left for subsequent
developments of fact and philosophy.  Most fortunately
for science, he not only established the present laws of gravitation, with their numerical quantities and with unalterable
accuracy, but he also laid foundations in their very construction for developments of discussion and discovery which
I hold his followers have been slow to comprehend.  Indeed,
without himself comprehending the immense value of his
discovery, or the force of his own terms, he has settled
principles from which must spring a perfect theory of celestial
motion, and, in the progress of science, a complete and
harmonious connexion of universal nature.  His law settles
the essential point that attraction as a cosmic force exists in
direct proportion to the amount of matter, that is, to the sum
of atoms, constituting a mass.  Mathematicians confirm, and
astronomers and physicists will all agree upon, this point.
There is no escape from  its truth.  It is a point fixed in
nature and knowledge; and is a nucleus from which, and to
which, all physical research must radiate and converge. The
fundamental truth in Newton's law, viz. that attraction is
in direct ratio to the amount of matter-that is to say, the
number of atoms in combination-settles at least five radical
facts in physical science. In the first place, it determines
astronomically and synthetically the absolute existence of
individual atoms, a fact which chemistry sustains by all
analyses and  logical deductions: it, secondly, establishes
the existence of attractive force in atoms as individual molecular entities, which, combining, create gravitation in every
planetary and stellar mass: it, thirdly, puts the fact beyond
contradiction that force is not a principle exterior to matter,
and acting ab extra upon planetary and stellar bodies:..it,
G




82                FORCE AND NVT[URK:
fourthly, demonstrates clearly that the nature and action of
attractive force are alike in the infinite and in the infinitesimal and identifiable everywhere as one and the same
thing: it shows, in the fifth and last place, that attraction is,
per se, an ultimate force capable of all degrees of subdivision
and combination, and also of centralization wherever its
phenomena are studied, from single molecules to masses of
molecules as large as the Earth, or Jupiter, or the Sun. Here,
then, are five important facts settled upon immoveable foundations connecting molecular with cosmical physics.
It is upon these foundations I stand as I proceed to unfold
the nature and action of Repulsion as a general and cosmic
force, cognate in origin, equal in value, quantity, and extent
with that of gravitation, and going hand in hand inseparably
with it into atoms and into masses, and throughout infinite
expansions into the dynamics of celestial motion, and playing
an equal part also with attraction as a primary agent in the
production of all physical, organic, and vital phenomena.
5.
We have already seen it established in preceding chapters
that molecules are endowed with two positive and inseparable
forces, attraction and repulsion. In the last chapter we traced
molecular attraction into cosmical developments; and in all
that precedes we have discussed the subject in such a manner
as to show exhaustively that it is the accumulation of individual molecular forces of attraction into great volumes which
constitutes the veritable force of gravitation, and that an inseparable consequence of this coalescence of the molecular
forces is the juxtaposition of the molecules into bodies like
planets and suns, with accumulative central powers which
have been reduced by the mathematical genius of Newton
into exact numerical functions.  It remains now to follow
molecular repulsion into its sensible and cosmical developments,
and to treat this branch of our subject in such a manner




NAT'URE AND  C.TION OF FORCE              83
that the existence of this force as a cosmical fact of co-ordinate value with that of gravitation can be comprehended by
every mind, and be rendered incontrovertible by physicists
or mathematicians.  So far, indeed, as the application of the
calculus to this subject is concerned as an experimentum
crucis of the existence of repulsion as a cosmical force, that
has already been accomplished by Newton, incidentally, and
without special cognition of the effect of his own act. By
establishing the numerical value of gravitation upon an
assumed vis inertice and momentum, he proved a co-ordinate
of force to be embraced in the initiative impulse (whatever
its origin or character) impressed upon the bodies under
mathematical treatment: for the problem of the ellipticity of
planetary orbits with attracting bodies in one of their foci
reduced to circles with the same attractive bodies in their
respective centres, will show an exact equilibrium of the
opposing forces. If there be questions upon this point, other
Newtons will no doubt arise to settle them.  My object is
simply to point out here the existence of repulsion as a
general and cosmical power hitherto overlooked and ignored,
and to prove its infinite importance, as the source of most
wonderful phenomena, the origin of which has not, up to
this time, been clearly comprehended.
6.
There is no question of the existence of molecular repulsion. It is known to exist as conclusively as molecular
attraction.  There is no need of proof nor argument upon
this point. All philosophers, of every name and grade, agree
upon it. But as soon as we pass beyond molecules, the consideration of this force is dropped by scientific men, while
attraction is carried through all acts and conditions of molecules to their grandest cosmical combinations and phenomena,
until it is determined by the calculus to possess definite and
progressive quantities and functions.
2




84'FORCE AND NATURE.
Now, although matter is not visible throughout its entire
extension, it will be obvious without much argument that
it is limited in quantity; and since all bodies are composed of molecules, it follows that molecules also must be
limited in space.  As matter and  force are united and
inseparable when practically considered, it follows that the
individual attractions of molecules, considered as abstract
and active quantities and powers, are also limited; and, as
a final corollary, that gravitation, as a quantitative force, is
limited in amount and action.  The deductions of Newton
confirm  this conclusion with the severest mathematical certainty; and since space is boundless, while cosmical bodies
are confined within positive although unknown boundaries,
it can no longer be questioned that Newton's laws define and
confine force as well as matter within limited boundaries
also, and that mathematical discussions must sustain deductions derived from graphical treatments of the subject.  So
far as matter and attractive force are concerned, this is
conclusive.  However vast space may be, matter must be
circumscribed in it like water within a lake, or wine within
a cask-or more graphically speaking, a planet within the
sky;-and since force is limited in its fields of action to
matter, directly as the masses and inversely as the squares
of the distances, the strength of gravitation as an active
quantity must dwindle, vanish, and end in the indefinable depths of unoccupied space.  Hence matter is limited
within the fields assigned to it by Infinite Intelligence, and
the attraction of its molecules uniting into cosmical functions
and planetary spheres of gravitative force is equally circumscribed within the same field.  All beyond this field
of matter and force must, upon this reasoning, be empty
space-nothing  more-nothing  less-neither matter nor
force-absolute  space-darkness-vacuum-nothing.  The
character of this field has already been described in our
first chapter, and is only referred to here in order to bind
preceding  facts  with  present discussion and  immediate
sequences.




NATUR E ANJ1) ACTION OF FORCE.            85
Now  it is apparent that no attractive force is lost, or
escapes from a single molecule in nature so as to be lost in
space, or can escape and be lost there; but on the contrary,
that all-the entire quantity of attractive force of moleculesmust unite with the molecules and be inseparable from them,
and become an eternal working power in the universe.
It is equally apparent that no atom of matter can drop out
of the universe, or be lost, or annihilated.  Neither can a
particle of attractive force vanish or be annihilated, any more
than an atom of matter.
Since, then, we know that molecular attraction and molecular repulsion exist as individual, positive, and coordinate
quantities of force at the same time and equally in all molecules; and since we know  that molecules and molecular
attraction and molecular repulsion are inseparable, eternal,
and indestructible; can we admit that repulsion is annihilated
simply because molecules combine into masses and assume
the shape of crystals and worlds, or of trees and animals, or
because the respective molecular attractions of all these
molecules coalesce into palpable gravitation, and become
transformed into magnified powers and vast local spheres of
attraction so potent as to influence each other when far
asunder? Are we on this account to conclude that repulsion
has vanished from nature? or should we not rather suspect
that molecular repulsion, like molecular attraction, always
accompanying molecules, changes its infinitesimal functions
into infinite ones, and that these enter into and become a part
of the mechanism and diversified phenomena of all departments of creation? That this question, with all its pregnant
sequences, demands candid and exhaustive study, there can be
no doubt. The laws of gravitation remained profound secrets
until recent times, notwithstanding that ages of observation
and study, from  Thales and Hipparchus to Copernicus and
Newton, had been devoted to the phenomena resulting from
the occult operation of this wonderful principle; and even
to this day its complete character has not been disclosed.
That Repulsion, as a dynamical, cosmical, and morphological




86                 FOORCE AND NATURE.
force, has been so long overlooked by physicists is indeed
strange, and would be inexplicable were not the natural
progress of human thought and  scientific  development
well known. Philosophy, indeed, demands another element
whereby to effect its largest developments; and the accumulations of facts in botany, anatomy, physiology, physics,
chemistry, geology, and astronomy are now, so great, that,
like the gathering of mighty waters within time-worn and
imperfect dams, they are ready to burst the bounds of the
theories within which they have  been laboriously  and
patiently garnered by many observers, from Copernicus and
Tycho Brahe, to Donati, Bond, Faraday, and Liebig;-most
precious treasures of knowledge, for which future ages cannot
be too grateful to these times. It is in this inexhaustible
storehouse of facts that I discover the evidences whereupon
physicists and naturalists may unite in elaborating a system
of analysis, in which repulsion shall be seen to combine with
attraction as a co-ordinate force, and thereby generate mechanical energy, effect creations of every kind, continue celestial
motion, and maintain the stability of universal nature.
If repulsion is not, and cannot be, annihilated when molecules associate, combine, and assume greater or less masses of
matter, it must discharge some important and palpable function in the creation and motion of things, and become visible
somewhere.  If atoms aggregate into masses, and their
attractive forces also coalesce and magnify themselves into
potencies proportional to their numbers, so also must their
repulsive forces assume increasing sums of power, and become
active agents of some sort in the developments of nature.
That repulsive force can become not only a palpable entity,
but an active and powerful principle in bulk and when concentrated, in proportion to its accumulation and concentration,
we know from its action when gases and other substances are
compressed-when it is released from  water as this fluid
passes into steam, and from carbon when gunpowder, guncotton, and nitro-glycerine explode.
I present these points simply to delineate at a glance the




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE                  87
nature of repulsion as a pure force in opposition to that of
gravitation.   I would present repulsion, if possible, for a
moment divested of its material habiliments, as I presented
attraction in the preceding chapter, so that the mind may
comprehend this force in its essence, independent of matter, and
contra-distinguished from attraction when this has passed
from molecular force into gravitation.
7.
I may here be permitted to say that one of the chief impediments to the progress of modern science, is the error of
cultivating  natural philosophy from  exclusively material
points of view; whereas, if all acts of nature were studied
more profoundly, it would be discovered that force alone is
the motive power of all things, and that the study even of
the shapes of atoms, upon which so much genius has been
spent and is still employed, must be comparatively fruitless,
since force is the basic constituent of atoms, and not shape
or motion until after force has inoculated them  with its
special and compound principles. Taking this view of the
subject, a profound, definite, and natural system  is at once
opened for the exercise of ideas encompassing all facts. We
shall then treat of the combination of special forces, and of
their coalescence and transformation into other forces possessing properties wholly different from their simpler originals,
and no longer speak of atoms combining in this or that
proportion, or number, or volume, or be compelled to divide
atoms into smaller atoms or "atomettes" to meet the embarrassments of every existing theory. This view will permit
scientific men  to  discard further speculations upon the
shapes and sizes of ultimate atoms of matter-a point which
no experiment or study has thus far approached-and will
render it unimportant to determine whether ultimate particles
possess special, variable, or similar shapes or dimensions;




88?FORCE AND NATURE.
since, inasmuch as force is the parent of all form and of all
difference of properties in matter, it is this which so moves
molecules that, basic ones commencing work, similarity and
affinity of force will arrange atoms, and build up geometrical
and organic forms upon this base, thus producing crystals
and other things nearly or wholly alike in measurements,
specific gravities, "atomic " equivalents, &c. while their
chemical, internal, and specific properties are found by
analysis and experiment to be wholly different from  one
another.
8.
In what precedes, I have endeavoured to show that pure
force lies at the basis of nature, and that it is toward this fact
the mind must be drawn, in order to understand and work
out the true principles of every department of science. It is
essentially so in respect to repulsion and attraction, genetic
agents in the production of all mechanical action. In connexion with these the chemical and vital forces act in such a
manner as to produce all forms and all substances out of
molecules, so infinitesimally minute, as to be considered not
only without definite shapes and void of all specific differences
of and within  themselves, but almost destitute even of
material being. Under the light of this treatment molecules
become only a sort of plastic and neutral element in nature,
devoid of specific forms or properties, and capable of infinite divisibility; while force is the pure, unsubstantial, and
supreme element which draws them  into masses, and separates and holds them asunder, and changes their conditions
according to laws existing in force alone. I am anxious to
show that forces alone-many, specific, definite, distinct, ultimate, and potent, capable of every degree of union and divisibility under special conditions and through inherent lawsare the agents which determine the movements of molecules.




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                89
Molecules are simply sensitive points, and the working material of force. Planets are only larger sensitive points made
up of these same sensitive atoms, and are the neutral crude
material upon which the mechanical powers of attraction
and repulsion in their cosmical aggregations are expended.
Gravitation and repulsion are the supreme forces of the universe; and by their mechanical leverage the motions of the
heavens are eternally maintained on one hand, while on the
other, the oscillations of their functions bring all those
secondary forces into being which work out through chemical
and vital channels the numberless diversities of created
things.
The subject of force thus developed in this connexion, will
lead the mind to comprehend more clearly what I mean by
pure force, when that term  is applied to repulsion. IDynamical force, discussed in its cosmical expansions, appears gross
and almost material and tangible in comparison with those
subtle conditions of force which the analytical chemist and
mineralogist are wont to consider in the cultivation of their
branches of science.  Nevertheless, all are equally subtle,
differing  only in quantity and  function.  Blending into
harmony with the chemical and vital forces, which according
to most delicate numerical laws select and reject or appropriate molecules at will, repulsion and gravitation grasp all
alike, both singly and collectively, in order to accomplish
special ends of a purely mechanical character through oscillating intensities of their respective functions. Each of these
cosmico-dynamical elements can be demonstrated to possess
absolute massive conditions of its own kind from which the
opposite force appears to be almost entirely eliminated,
although, when studied in connexion with planets themselves,
or the entire system of nature, they appear to act inseparably,
simultaneously, co-ordinately, and harmoniously, and to be so
accumulative as to maintain conditions of perpetual tension,
which tension, in consequence of the location of the sun in
the foci of elliptical orbits, is constantly fluctuating like the
movements of a pendulum, and exchanging quantities in




90                  FORCE AND NATURE.
such a manner as to maintain perpetual although unequal
motion.
9.
It is evident in the present state of knowledge, that the
two forces which maintain the motions of the heavens are
equal in absolute amount, although fluctuating from instant
to instant in quantity, as is proved by the ellipses of planetary
orbits with controlling bodies in the foci of all these orbits;
and it has already been clearly shown that molecular attraction has swelled into massive aggregates to constitute one of
these forces, that of gravitation.  We are familiar with this
because philosophy is constantly discussing it, to the exclusion of all other forms of massive force.  When repulsion is
clearly comprehended as pure force capable of swelling into
bulky conditions-co-ordinates with those of attraction-no
theory of cosmic motion will easily reject it from its natural
place in the celestial economy.
Certain illustrations are necessary to make this point clear,
and they will serve not only to show the subtle relations of
these forces to atoms and masses of matter, but also to present
them  in the light of abstract principles running through
molecular gradations into voluminous expansions, in such
strong contradistinctions from each other and from matter
as to define the function of each and to prove that all elastic
force, reactionary force, projectile force, tension, expansion,
eruptive force, &c. —the entire  nomenclature of modern
mechanical philosophy-is nothing more or less than simple
molecular repulsion, augmenting by successive increments
and modifications of condition, until its concentrated potencies
assume co-ordinates of gravitation in planetary motion, and
become transformed into cosmical repulsion.  Kepler, after
discovering the ellipses of planetary orbits and the fixation of
the sun in one of their foci, was evidently at one time impressed with the idea that planets were repelled by the sun




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                  91
as well as attracted; but this idea, like many other true conceptions, even that of gravitation, was lost in the midst of his
perplexities and doubts, and the sublime novelties which
almost bewildered him.
10.
The illustrations by which repulsion may be most clearly
set before the understanding may be presented in two forms:
indirectly, so as to develop it by way of comparison; and
directly, so as to make it appreciable by positive demonstration.
Gold and platinum  are among the simplest substances.
Their physical characteristics are great density, specific
gravity, malleability, and ductility, with small elasticity,
and these characteristics distinguish them  from  everything
else in nature.  I select these substances therefore from  all
others, for the purpose of illustrating the abstract existence
of attraction, so that repulsion may be the better comprehended by comparison when afterwards referred to.  Their
malleability and ductility clearly indicate such tenacity of
cohesion between molecules, as to exhibit the principle of
attraction almost, if not altogether, separated from repulsion
in this condition of matter. This is a display of pure molecular attraction, while their density shows the same form  of
force, abounding and concentrated in masses, drawing their
particles into closer juxtaposition. Their exceeding gravity
is an expression of the same force, responding to similar force
in the earth itself; in other words, pure gravitation-mutual
attraction acting according to the Newtonian law of direct
proportion to sums of atoms, as heretofore described.  Their
want of elasticity proves absence of molecular repulsion;
their minimum fusibility (at least that of platinum), the great
difficulty even to impress upon their particles the repulsive principle known to exist in heat, either as chemical or
mechanical force.




92                 FORCE AND NATURR
-:Now, if in this delineation of the physical characters of
gold and platinum we contemplate force and molecules in
their infinitesimal conditions, we shall discover the least
possible amount of active repulsion entering into their relations, and comprehend the fact that attraction may be a
simple, abstract isolated principle even in massive quantities;
and if the conditions described exist in a grain or a pound,
or in tons' weight, as we know they do, they might exist in
masses as large as the earth or Sirius.
Such is the nature of attractive force.  The more free from
intermixture with repulsive force, the more positive and
visible is its action upon molecules and masses.  When
acting alone it produces intense cohesion, the greatest density,
and pure gravitation.  But as the two combine or mix
naturally together, so to speak, existing as mechanical,
chemical, and vital forces, the physical characteristics of
bodies are diversified, and numerous quantitative differences
of these combining forces produce endless forms of matter.
Hence the impossibility of attaining by rapid steps the end
of physical knowledge. It is only after mountains of minute
facts have been accumulated, that some accidental thread
will lead to the unfolding of true systems of classification
through which all nature will become transparent to the
human mind.
As the study of platinum  and gold indicates the nature
and action of the principle of attraction in both its molecular and aggregate functions, the study of gases will in like
manner make us acquainted with the nature and action of
repulsion.
Although gases differ among themselves in rarity and
expansibility, they are all more or less compressible, and
some to such a degree as to liquify and even to solidify.
Of the twenty-eight gaseous bodies known, twenty-five are
reducible to liquids and nine to solids. When compression
is removed they spring back to their original conditions with
great rapidity, and, if experiments be not carefully conducted,
with destructive energy. The mere fact of the compressibility




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.                 983
of gases from great volumes into liquids and solids, without
the slightest change in their absolute gravities and atomic
properties, is proof of positive distances between their respective molecules, and of an active inherent force extending its
influence from one to the other, and from each to all, which
maintains them at given distances asunder. Compressed and
existing as palpable liquids and solids under restraint, their
sudden  and  energetic  expansion  into  original, invisible,
impalpable conditions when restraint ceases is conclusive
evidence that molecular repulsion acting from  a central
molecule to outer ones in all directions is, like attraction,
capable of coalescing and uniting its individual powers into
massive  sums, and becoming transformed into magnified
units of repulsion whose aggregates, as mechanical force, may
be numerically computed as easily as that of gravitation.
The existence of repulsion isolated so completely from gravitation that it may be recognised as an independent abstract
principle, may be studied in aerostatic experiments; and
some of the physical facts even, observable in these experiments, will be seen in the sequel to have their counterparts
among cosmical phenomena.
Hydrogen, the most attenuate and expansible of known
ponderable elements, will, when isolated in a balloon, not
only rise in consequence of absolute repulsion between itself
and the earth, but this repulsion is also observed to increase
simultaneously between its particles, in numerical ratios to
its removal from the influence of gravitation as a centralized
principle, so that the balloon will not only expand with
increasing tension, but even burst at last into many fragments., I am aware that it will be objected to this illustration that the balloon rises in consequence of being lighter
than the atmospheric gases. But herein lies the occult principle of energy whose positive nature I am endeavouring to
elucidate.
This is an illustration of the nature and action of pure
repulsion, a principle possessing powers and properties in
direct opposition to those of gravitation. As a secret funda



94                 FORCE AND NAT'URE.
mental principle, operating in the largest as well as smallest
aspects, expanding into terrestrial and cosmical functions not
as a mere reactionary and negative agency, but as a positive
mechanical and creative power in the universe, repulsion
presents a field for research and discovery not only as ample
as that of gravitation, but so rich and exhaustless also that
future generations will wonder that it has remained so long
unexplored. This force varies its functions and expressions
so much, is really so subtle, elastic, and latent in its character,
ready to spring into action under the slightest cosmical, solar,
or molecular disturbances, that it does, indeed, become the
true mechanical, or, so to speak, the organizing element of
nature; for neither heat, light, electricity nor magnetism, as
will appear hereafter, can be generated independently of its
precedent energy exerted in antagonism  to attraction, nor
can geometrical form, or vegetable or animal existence, be
developed without its direct and active agency.
A remarkable instance of the play of repulsive force between the molecules of solid matter is presented in the
substance called "elastic sponge." Ordinary sponge, cut into
small pieces and submitted to certain chemical processes,
acquires such remarkably elastic and expansive properties,
that a bale of it weighing a single pound, compressed and
held into a space of three inches in thickness by six in
length and four in breadth, when cut apart, will expand to
over three feet in length.
Repulsion, if studied in its relation to water, will be found
to display its function in an equally positive, but different
and unique manner.  When hydrogen and oxygen combine
to form water, the respective repulsive forces inherent in
these gases either instantly vanish, or they coalesce as their
molecules condense and liquify. These new relations of the
attractive and repulsive forces remaining quiescent at common
temperatures, they render this form  of matter almost absolutely incompressible by any degree of mechanical pressure;
and at certain temperatures, absolutely incompressible by
cold.  These singular conditions are clearly demonstrated by




NA,1TURE AND ACTION OF FORCE.              95
observation and experiment; while other important and suggestive facts are also established by them: for, since cold
below  39-2 Fahr. (4~ C.) produces expansion of water, it
becomes evident that heat is of itself not pure repulsive force
any more than cold; that cold embodies some foreign principle of positive force, as well as heat; and that repulsion is a
principle whose existence per se is alike independent of both
heat and cold, and is capable of combining with one as well
as the other, in such a manner as to lead to the production
of the most powerful mechanical results.  Ice and steam
as mechanical agents are too well known to require further
remark.  The point to be established by drawing them
into this connexion by way of elucidation, is, that the
mechanical lever inherent in both-in the base of both, and
in the originals of both-is neither heat nor cold, but pure
molecular and massive repulsion, an entirely different and
the fundamental principle of expansive and projectile force.
Like attraction, it accompanies molecules into all their
various combinations, becomes apparent in some forms of
matter more than in others, and so endows certain elementary
bodies that it may be almost isolated, and studied as independently of matter, and as definitely, as gravitation and
molecular attraction in gold and platinum.
11.
Now, since we can demonstrate in many ways that there
is such a thing as pure repulsive force of a voluminous
character, made up of increments of molecular repulsion,
as gravitation in metals and planets is made up of increments
of molecular attraction,-and since we know that all gases
are held in their expansive and invisible states by repulsion
accumulated into greater or less volumes of activity, and
carrying those molecules with them  whose chemical forces
or properties permit such exclusive associations with and
absorptions of this force as to hold them at special distances




96                FORCE AND NATURE.
from each other,-since we know these things, and know
further that the entire atmosphere, and all the waters and
vapours enveloping and penetrating the planet are charged to
their utmost capacities with this force, who can doubt that it
must and does enter into the general constitution of nature
in such a manner as to play an important function as an
active cosmical quantity?
Recognising the universal presence and activity of repulsion in the envelopes of the globe-their saturation with it,
so to speak-we can moreover trace its energy with equal
certitude in the closest association with that of attraction,
throughout the mineral and stratified crust.  Although not
treated by physicists as an active mechanical agent in crystallization, repulsion is without doubt as present and effective as attraction in arranging molecules into geometrical
forms, and expanding these forms into their grandest and
most perfect proportions. It becomes, indeed, in union with
attraction, a formative and developing power; determining
directions, limiting bounds, and confining atoms within specific distances of given centres.  Were attraction the only
force at work in and upon molecules when free to move and
arrange themselves in juxtaposition, spheres would be the
unique forms in nature, and all matter would be agglomerated into a single ball: were repulsion the only force, an
opposite state of things would exist; since it is the property
of the former principle to converge to common centres, and
of the latter to diverge from such points. These properties
are inherent in the fundamental nature of these two basic
forces; and although we may not discover the subtle and
directing agent incorporated still deeper into their constitution, we know these points to be facts, and must rest upon
them as such.  The forces unite and mingle their currents
without sensible interruption, but their action upon molecules is such as to display their sensible presence and functions in dynamical phenomena, and these phenomena appear
to- be always generated at right angles to combining and
decomposing currents, as will be more clearly seen hereafter.




1NAtTURE ANTVD ACTION OF FORCE             9 7
They appear thus, also, to resolve themselves  into  the
secondary forces of electricity, magnetism, &c., and to infuse
these new elements into every mechanical, crystallographic
and organic act of creation; and they fashion matter by
measure and weight as the more subtle and latent chemical
affinities measure out combining quantities, and in the same
manner as the sledge and anvil fashion metals under the
intelligent hand of the artisan. Therefore the form of every
crystal-that is, the motion of atoms in order to be appropriated and arranged into form-must result from the compound action of these two forces; and since it is known that
attraction is the force which moulds the faces and produces
the shortest axes of crystals, it follows that repulsion must
shape their salient diameters and angles. Such, indeed, is
the case, the chemical forces (not here subjects of discussion)
imparting various properties to molecules, and rendering them
more or less susceptible of association with, and subserviency
to, the two great underlying mechanical forces of nature.
Researches upon crystallization clearly reveal the dynamical
action of both these forces. When evaporation, for instance,
of any saline solution slowly and quietly takes place, active
universal motion is observed among the particles as soon as
they become visible, as if each was endowed with life and intelligence. They act like so many animalcule or infinitesimal
magnets.  They repel and fly from  each other in one direction, and attract and attach themselves in another, and finally
assume regular, solid, geometrical forms. While attraction
appears to be the basis of solidity, repulsion appears to
assume a higher function, and to inspire in matter a spirit
of selection, adjustment, arrangement, order, and beauty, and
to be an ascending step from  plastic, neutral atoms, and
solidifying force, to intelligent life-like endowment. As we
observe the action of this force in the arrangement of molecules into crystals under a microscope, so we know  it to
act from a basic particle throughout the largest crystals and
throughout every crystal in the world; and thus acting it
presents the incontrovertible fact that repulsion extends from
H




98                 FORCE AND NATURE.
centres, as a continuous and voluminous energetic, and persists in exercising this function, in huge masses, as a special
magnified power, composed of molecular increments of the
same principle.
12.
Now, since all amorphous conditions of rocks and minerals
are abortive or confused crystallizations; and since even
sandstones, shales, and muds are only fragments and solutions of old crystals, or are capable of transformation into
new ones; it follows that repulsion, as an absolute and formative force, has existed from the origin of things, and still
exists throughout the known solid portions of this planet.
That it does exist, and that it acts in the atoms and germs of
things, or shadows the outline around which and into which
the chemical forces must play, and gauge their delicate weights
and measures, or group molecules after their own special
laws, we are compelled to believe  from  the continuous
geological changes transpiring throughout the rocky frame
of the globe.  In limestones and lavas, sands, clays, and
conglomerates,-it matters not what form of rock or metal,wherever solutions can infiltrate, wherever heat or cold can
penetrate, even where no perceptible change of temperature
takes place, there unceasingly steals this subtle element
of force, and pushes one atom  here and another there, while
attraction as subtly assists in the transfer by direct or counter
impulses; co-workers and co-partners in these greater or less
architectural designs amid which enter certain subordinate
forces like apprentices  and  journeymen  to  dovetail the.mechanism, carve the arabesques, and polish the handiwork
of nature.
Upon the theory that the earth is solid throughout its
unexplored depths,-whether it be a mass of trachyte or
granite, as some geologists have fancied,-of soft iron, as
Professor Lamoint, the Bavarian astronomer, imagines,-or of




NAT'URE AND ACTION OP FORCE.                99
a sort of water-glass, as is believed by Professor Schafhautl
of Munich, —repulsive force must have  discharged, and
must still perform, the same function so observable and
demonstrable throughout the known parts of its crystalline
structure.
Turning discussion, however, toward the planet's centre
in view  of the  theory  of Leibnitz that the globe was
originally a ball of igneous fluid, that its crust has resulted
from cooling, and that its interior is yet a molten mineral
mass, the evidences of voluminous and active repulsion are
still more obvious and conclusive.  Without favouring any
special hypothesis, or introducing any into this connexion
to prolong the discussion, it is impossible to overlook great
physical events and facts which display themselves in all
hemispheres and in  all latitudes  and  longitudes of the
earth, and thereby become recognisable cosmical phenomena.
Earthquakes are indisputable effects of repulsive force acting
from  greater or lesser depths, and their not unfrequent
simultaneous occurrence at nearly opposite points of the
earth's surface presents strong  evidence that this repulsion often radiates from  central regions of the planet.  To
enumerate and describe these terrific events which overthrow
cities, lift and fissure vast areas of plain and mountain,
swell and move entire oceans with measurable, frequently
with destructive, impulses, and shake a hemisphere from the
Caspian Sea to Lake Superior and from Iceland to Sahara and
Martinique, is quite unnecessary, since the monthly records
of this class of subterranean phenomena are known to every
physicist.  Few will attempt to deny that all these great
expansive and undulatory movements of the crust result from
tension produced by the molecular repulsive forces, by the
voluminous action, indeed, of repulsion viewed as a pure force
capable of an accumulative function, and whose nature and
action, being the same whether expressed in infinite or infinitesimal quantities, are demonstrated by its functional
capacity, so to speak, to segregate, to break loose from  its
connexion with the planetary mass, and to fly and carry
H 2




100               FORCE SAND INATURE.
immense sums of atoms in its course (for the reason that
matter clings to force) in like manner as molecular attraction,
becoming gravitation in masses, carries matter with it in its
passage to unite with the earth or the sun.  Repulsion is
active mechanical radiation: gravitative attraction is active
convergence toward the centre of anything.  Matter is moved
in opposite directions by these opposite forces. This is selfevident.
Besides this class of phenomena whose effects are observable at surface-levels, there is another where the mechanical
effects of repulsion proceeding from the planetary centre rise
far above the surface. To say nothing of extinct volcanoes
of enormous altitudes, active ones here and there exist all
around the globe, and even in high northern and southern
latitudes. It is unnecessary to state that their elevation
and activity result from expansive expressions of this force,
the voluminous and cosmical character of which I am
endeavouring to elucidate. The mere recognition of volcanic
eruptions-a comprehension of their vastness and sustained
energy-must convince practical and truly philosophical
minds that another force as mighty as gravitation, antagonistic to it, and even exceeding it in power for the time
being, is at work to transport such immense volumes of
matter hundreds and thousands of feet above the general
level of the planet. The summit of Cotopaxi, near the equator,
is 18,858 feet above the ocean, that of Erebus, near the SouthPole, is 12,400 feet, while the channels which conduct from
their craters to active fountains of repulsive force may be
scores of miles in length. Prolonged researches upon this
subject, conducted extensively in order that physical configurations and eruptive phenomena might be most accurately
observed and studied, have taken me to many volcanoes, both
active and extinct, and to some of the highest and most
remarkable upon the earth.  Beside listening to repeated
fearful rumblings beneath the valleys of Quito, Latacunga,
and Riobamba, moving in the directions of Sangai and Cotopaxi, and suggestive of violent movements of immense amounts




1VNAURiE Alm) A ACTION OF FORCE.         101
of material of all sorts in profound caverns of the Andes, I
have many times observed glowing discharges projected from
one to three thousand feet above the sublime and symmetrical
summit of the latter mountain. So prodigious is the display
of eruptive force as the igneous rocks emerge from the throat
of Cotopaxi, that they appear like a perpendicular column of
compact fire; and it is only when, at immense heights, they
separate and fall in pyrotechnic showers of indescribable
grandeur that these huge fragments of an inner world are
distinguishable from one another. I have seen the same subterranean repulsive force vent itself many times in a similar
manner from the summit of Isalco, and in a feebler manner
from Masaya in Central America; while in Hawaii I once
witnessed a molten bubble scatter its igneous spray toward
space, as it burst from that ever-restless fountain of Kilauea,
whose agitated surface is probably never lower than three
thousand feet above the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
Definite, numerous, and satisfactory as have been my
own observations of this class of phenomena, those of other
persons are still more notable.  The  Rev. Titus  Coan,
resident as a missionary of the American Board upon the
island of Hawaii, has for many years made careful notes on
the various eruptions that have burst at different heights
from the remarkable volcano of Mauna Loa. On the 27th
December, 1855, he addressed me a letter from H-ilo in reply
to interrogatories upon plutonic phenomena observed by him
at Hawaii, and some of his facts bearing strikingly upon our
subject, I select them from numberless records to strengthen
this class of evidence:-" From Kilauea, in June 1840, there
"was a great eruption, the lava of which rolled furiously
"down to the sea, in a stream from one to three miles wide."
Kilauea is not far from 4,000 feet above the sea-level. "In
"January 1843 there was an eruption from the summit of
" Mauna Loa, the streams of lava being thirty miles long and
"from two to three miles wide."  The summit of Mauna Loa
is nearly three miles high. " In February 1852 there was an
"eruption of unrivalled splendour on the north-east slope of




102                FORCE zAN:D NATI'ECU.
"Mauna Loa.  For twenty days a column of incandescent
"minerals was ejected vertically to the height of one thousand
"feet, from  an orifice nearly one thousand feet in diameter.
" This rare pyrotechnical display exceeded all description of
"pen or pencil.  The stream  from  this crater was thirty
"miles long and from  one to three miles broad."  This
eruption sprang from a point estimated to be eight or ten
thousand feet above the ocean.  "The last and most terrific
"is our present eruption, which commenced on the summit
"of Mauna Loa on the 11th of August, and which is still
"in full blast after a lapse of 140 days.  The stream  of
"fusion, including its windings, is now sixty or seventy
" miles long, from two to six miles wide, and varying in
"depth from  6 to 200 and 300 feet."  This opening took
place about 12,000 feet above the sea, and the stream was
visited by me in March 1856, when it was still flowing
through the forest at a distance of about six miles from the
Bay of Hilo. Another great eruption took place on the 23d
January, 1859, on the northern slope of this volcano, at an
altitude of about 7,000 feet, a description of which appeared
from  an anonymous pen in the Pacific Commercial Advertiser, published February 12, 1859, at Honolulu.  "The lava
"does not simply run out from the side of the crater, like
"water from the side of a bowl, but is thrown up in con"tinuous columns very much like the Geyser Springs, as
represented in school geographies.  At times this spouting
"appeared to be feeble, rising but little above the rim of the
"crater; but generally, as if eager to escape from the pent-up
"bowels of the earth, it rose to a height nearly equal to the
"base of the crater.  But the columns and masses of lava
"thrown out were ever varying in form and height.  Some"times, when very active, a spire or cone of lava would shoot
"up like a rocket or in the form  of a huge pyramid to a
"height of nearly double the base of the crater. If the
"mouth of the crater is five hundred feet across, the per"pendicular column must be eight hundred to one thousand
"feet in height! Then, by watching it with a spyglass, the




V.NATURE  ANi3 A CTIOHN OF FOR CE.        103
" columns could be seen to diverge and fall in all manner
" of shapes like a beautiful fountain."  "Large boulders of
"red-hot lava stone, weighing hundreds if not thousands of
"tons, thrown up with inconceivable power high above the
"liquid mass, could be seen occasionally falling outside, or
"on the rim  of the crater, tumbling down the cones and
"rolling over the precipice, remaining brilliant for a few
"moments, then becoming black, were lost among the mass
"of surrounding lava."  The Rev. L. Lyons, in a published
description dated at Waimea, Hawaii, February 4, 1859, says
also of this eruption:-" On January 23d volcanic smoke
"was seen gathering on Mauna Loa.  In the evening the
"mountain presented a grand yet fearful spectacle.  Two
"streams of fire were issuing from  two different sources,
"flowing apparently in two different directions.... In the
"morning of the second day we could discern where the
"eruptions were.  One appeared to be very near the top of
" the mountain, but its stream  and smoke soon after disap"peared.  The other was on the north side further below the
" top..... The burning crater seemed to be constantly enlarg"ing, and throwing up its volumes of liquid fire above the
"mouth of the crater-I will not venture to say how high
— and the fiery stream  rolled onward and onward, still
"adding grandeur and terror as it proceeded, till on the
"morning of the 31st, about sunrise, it reached the sea....
"The volcanic stream  was one mile wide or more in some
"places, and much less in others.  The whole distance of
"the flow, from the crater to the sea, is some forty miles.
"Last night the volcano was in full blast."  The following
April "a long point had been formed running out into
"the sea at Kiholo with a depth of water at the outer
"edge of sixty-three fathoms, and the liquid rock was still
"dropping out seaward."  I will not attempt to compute
the cubic quantity or weight of matter thus ejected into
space from the interior of the planet in these well-noted
repulsive outbreaks.  But similar phenomena have so frequently occurred at Hawaii and in other volcanic regions




1 04               UORCEI AD NALJRE.
that it can be scarcely doubted that the earth must be in a
state of constant tension.
On the 27th and 28th March of the present year (1868)
the summit crater of Mauna Loa, called Makuaweoweo, was
seen to belch fire and smoke.  This crater is not far from
14,000 feet above the sea. The tension was so great, that
"a rending took place on the southern slope of the mountain,
"near the summit, and fiery streams issued from four points
"and ran off in diverging lines.  The largest stream  ran
"south about fifteen miles, when suddenly all the moun"tarn valves closed, and fire and steam  disappeared to"gether."  While these pages are in type, I am  again
indebted to the Rev. Mr. Coan (as well as to several other
friends) for a detailed account of many phenomena which
have been observed during the recent remarkable eruptions in
Hawaii. These may be said to have been ushered in by an
unusual action in the molten lake of Kilauea, which commenced rather suddenly on the 20th January of the present
year.  This subterranean tension and local activity continued.steadily to increase in violence, as related to Dr. Hildebrand
by Kaina, a daily eye-witness of what took place there for
five months preceding the terrible earthquake of April 2d.
I will only call attention, however, to two or three points, in
order to fix upon the reader's mind the existence and the
voluminous action of a force the opposite of attraction, and
which, though an active and the radical element in the production of heat and steam, is not itself either steam or heat,
and which, as we shall see by one of the Hawaiian facts, and
especially by our discussion in the chapter on Mechanical
Force, may be effectively displayed in expansive phenomena
in which no heat is perceptible or demonstrable.
" On the 2d inst." (April), writes Mr. Coan, " at 4 P.M.,
"such a shock occurred as had no record in the history, the
" memory, or the traditions of these islands.... Great boulders
"were tossed and rolled like a foot-ball; land slides were
"numerous, and precipices fell thundering into the sea. The'earth was rent in a thousand places, and fissures from one




LNATUIRE AiND  ACT,0'IO  OF FOR1)v,'       10 5
"inch to six and ten feet opened.  The streets and yards and
"fields of Hilo cracked, and seams opened all around us....
"It seemed as if the rocky ribs of the mountains and the
" marble walls and pillars of the world were breaking.
"At this moment the ground was rent in Kau, between the
" ranches of Reed and Richardson and Mr. F. S. Lyman's, and
" an eruption of mud, rocks, and earth (not heated) took place
"about three miles long, and one to three wide, burying
"instantaneously a village with thirty-one natives, and also' 500 or 600 head of cattle.  The discharge was so sudden that
"there was no escape for those in its range.  It was like the
" bursting of a bomb.  At the same time the sea rose and fell
" rapidly all round the island.  In Hilo it came up to Front
"Strait, six to eight feet above high water mark.  In Puna
" it rose ten to fifteen feet.... In Kau the tidal wave was
"twenty to twenty-five feet high, sweeping away all the
" villages and churches along the low shores, and destroying
" scores of people," &c.
Dr. Hildebrand, who is known to me personally to be both
a, reliable observer and a scientific scholar, writes to the
Pacfic Commercial Ac7vertiser, published  at Honolulu, a
lengthy account of his observations made on the 10th and 11th
April last, from  which I extract the following data: "On
" Tuesday afternoon, April 7, at 5 o'clock, a new  crater,
"several miles lower down than that referred to, and about
"two miles back of Captain Brown's residence, burst out.
" Four enormous fountains, apparently distinct from  each
" other, and yet forming a line a mile long, north and south,
" were continually spouting up from. the opening.  These jets
" were blood-red, and yet as fluid as water, ever varying in
" size, bulk, and height.  Sometimes two would join together,
"and again the whole four would be united, making one
" continuous fountain a mile in length..
"This was the magnificent scene, to see which we had
" hurriedly left Honolulu, and had fortunately arrived at the
"right moment to witness as it opened before us in all its
"majestic grandeur and unrivalled beauty.  At the left were




106'ORCE AND NA.'URIW.
" those four great fountains, boiling up with terrific fury,
"throwing crimson  lava and enormous stones weighing a
thundred tons to a height varying constantly from  five
" hundred to six hundred feet.  At times these red-hot rocks
"filled the air, causing a great noise and roar, and flying in
"every direction, but generally toward the south.  Some" times the fountains would all subside for a few minutes,
"and then commence, increasing till the stones and liquid
"lava reached a thousand feet in height.  The grandeur of
"this picture, ever varying like a moving panorama painted
"in the richest crimson hues, no person can realize unless he
" has witnessed it."
When physicists know that that Force which pushes up is
the antithetic of that which pulls down, and that which produces cracks and fissures and expansion (whether small or
great) is the opposite of that which affects concentration,
cohesion, and adhesion, can they longer doubt that Repultsion
is really and practically a principle capable, like gravitation,
of assuming planetary expressions and becoming an absolute
cosmo-dynamic power?
A patient hand has collated the following data which bear
directly upon the point under illustration, and they might,
if necessary, be indefinitely multiplied from my pregnant
records.  "Cotopaxi, in 1783, threw  its fiery rockets 3,000
" feet above its crater, while in 1744 the blazing mass, strug"gling for an outlet, roared so that its awful voice was heard
" a distance of more than six hundred miles.  In 1797, the
"crater of Tungaragua, one of the great peaks of the Andes,
" flung out torrents of mud which dammed rivers, opened new
lakes, and in valleys of a thousand feet wide made deposits
"of six hundred feet deep.  The stream  from  Vesuvius
"which in 1737 passed through Torre del Greco, contained
"33,600,000 cubic feet of solid matter; and in 1794, when
"Torre del Greco was destroyed a second time, the mass of
"lava amounted to 45,000,000 cubic feet.  In 1697, Etna
"poured forth a flood which covered eighty-four square miles
"of surface, and measured 100,000,000 cubic feet.  On this




NATUrj7'RE AIND A.CTION OF'.FOI'01.       ]. 0 7
"occasion the scoriae formed the Monte Rossi, near Nicolosi,
" a cone two miles in circumference and four thousand feet
"high.  The stream  thrown out by Etna in 1810 was in
" motion at the rate of a yard per day for nine months after
"the eruption; and it is on record that the lava of the same
"mountain, after a terrible eruption, was not thoroughly
"cooled and consolidated ten years after the event.  In the
"eruption of Vesuvius, A.D. 79, the scoriae and ashes vomited
"forth far exceeded the entire bulk of the mountain; while
"in 1660 Etna discharged more than twenty times its own
" mass.  Vesuvius has thrown its ashes as far as Constanti" nople, Syria, and Egypt; it hurled stones eight pounds in
"weight to Pompeii, a distance of six miles, while similar
"masses were tossed two thousand feet above its summit.
" Cotopaxi has projected a block of 109 cubic yards in
" volume, a distance of nine miles; and Sambaua, in 1815,
" during the most terrible eruption on record, sent its ashes
" as far as Java, a distance of three hundred miles' surface."
Facts of this character abound in the records and traditions
of all volcanic localities. Every extinct volcano even is
indicative of the same eruptive action from  the planet's
interior toward space in times past more or less ancient.
It is the same all over the sphere from  Jan Mayan 19~
of latitude from  the North Pole and Kliutchewskaja in
Kamschatka, 15,763 feet high, to Erebus in Wilkes' continent, 12,400 feet high, and only 12" from the South Pole;
and from  the middle of broad oceans at Hawaii 14,000 feet
high, to Gualatieri in Peru 21,997 feet, and to the interior of
Asia, 1,500 miles from  any sea.  From the low outlets of
Santorini, rising in successive heights of mechanical energy
through Vesuvius, 3,948 feet; Jorullo in Mexico, 4,205;
Etna, 10,874; Idrapura, Sumatra, 12,300;  St. Helen's,
Oregon, 13,300; Ariquipa in South America, 20,320; and
a hundred other intermediate outlets not enumerated, we
discover the same irresistible principle at work radiating
from the centre of the globe, which, exerted in its molecular
and multiform  capacities, can with equal facility push an




108                 FORCE AND NATYl'URI.
atom, shoot a ball, turn a wheel, raise an island, rift a world
or roll a system.
It is all one and the same repulsive force acting from the
bowels of a fecund and overstrained planet or of a fecund
and. overstrained universe. Like gravitation, which throbs
equally through an atom  or a Sirius, and binds the cosmos
together as with bolts of steel, so repulsion, on the contrary,
can send an atom whirling from a planet's centre, or a comet
from the sun so far that it may lose its way among the stars.
It is force, and force alone, which executes all.  Matter
without force might well be called inert or dead. But our
philosophy, like that of Plato, Aristotle, and Liebnitz, can
admit of no death, no inertia, no rest, nothing but sensitiveness in matter and universal life, physical, intellectual, and
spiritual, eternally excited and attuned by ever-changing and
ever-oscillating activities of unstable force. Repulsion upon
one side, attraction upon the other, and the sensitive, plastic,
submissive molecule between, ready to receive and obey
either or both quicker than the quickest thought of man,
quick as the quickest thought of God.  In proportion to the
quantity and conflict of engaged forces is the mechanical
character of any material act.
It is obvious without further evidence, or discussion, upon
the point, that volcanic and earthquake phenomena are acts
of pure repulsive force, and that these phenomena, are
resultants of the infusion into matter of those subtle principles of energy which act and react in the movements of
machines, or in the revolutions of planets. If repulsion plays
its part secretly, and proceeds out of the depths of the earth, it
is no more secret than gravitation, and it has no other origin.
If the working power of one is within the reach of the
calculus, so is that of the other; and if either be a creative
essence and an inexhaustible fountain of inductive power,
the other is not less so. I hope to make this appear more
fully hereafter.




NATURE ATND ACTION OF'FORCE.               109
13.
While we see repulsion exert itself in the form of mechanical action from the central depths of the planet outwardly,
thus  apparently  embodying  itself into  substantial and
visible relations with cosmic masses, we observe that in
crystallization it acts also by silent methods of persistent
leverage in pushing atoms into geometrical forms.  In this
secret universal system of mineral architecture its function is
still mechanical. But it takes, moreover, a wider range even
in the crust of our earth. That it exists in a state of cosmic
tension, an absolute superabundance of mechanical energy,
as well as in the special condition of a molecular and morphological agent, is sufficiently proved by that category of
phenomena long observed by quarry-men and miners, where
stones spring laterally and upwardly  out of place when
suddenly detached from continuous strata.
That the earth is charged with an active principle of
repulsion, from its central point to its outmost atmospheric
atom, in the same manner that it is charged with attraction
-that it is thus loaded to absolute tension-and that this
principle performs diversified functions, like attraction, in
union with the chemical and vital forces, modifying their
action and the weight and density of matter-will become, I
trust, more apparent as the subject is studied from the point
of view  whence I have endeavoured to unfold it.  That
attraction and repulsion united, playing with incessant oscillations of intensity upon and through atoms, are the sources of
the secondary forces, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, which
in their turn assume new functions, developing the great
work of creation, and presiding over the fountains of eternal
change and continuance, of conversion and conservation of
mechanical and organic force, which prevent nature from
drifting into rest or decay, and which create all things anew,
and extend life and being from  everlasting to everlasting —that attraction and repulsion are the alpha and omega of all




110                FORCE AN1) NATURE
these things, universal observation and experiment indicate;
and I believe that few physicists or naturalists will question
this conclusion, when repulsion shall have been as much a
subject of thought, discussion, and research as molecular
attraction and universal gravitation, and when it shall take
the place of " elastic force " and " latent heat " in solid science.
As an element of the highest character in scientific investigations, repulsion has been overlooked by philosophers, and,
indeed, rejected altogether from consideration in celestial
mechanics.  The chemist has recognised it for a moment in
his molecular philosophy; but when it begins to expand into
mechanical dimensions and organic functions, he abandons
the pursuit of it as beyond his field of inquiry, or vaguely
comprehends it as a doubtful fact embraced in the meaningless nomenclature of latent forces.  So difficult is it to break
away from ideas to which the most sagacious minds become
enchained by authority and tradition.
14.
In like manner as gases, when condensed and thus made
liquid or solid, appear to concentrate and confine repulsive
force by a sort of chemical or mechanical restraint; so it
seems that by the processes instituted by nature to amass
atoms into spheres and create solid or liquid worlds, this
same repulsive force is held as if' bottled up, so to speak, or
absorbed to repletion or tension, as water is held in a sponge;
or (a better illustration) like vapour mixed with the atmospheric gases, ready to expand or condense as external conditions may influence or determine.  The more we study
puzzling phenomena of a general character, the more we shall
suspect this state of things, until we prove and establish it.
Even the same class of phenomenal movements which in
earthquakes and volcanoes is so impressive and remarkable




NA'URE AND ACTION OF FORCE.              1 1 
in the solid sphere, is equally conspicuous, but modified by
circumstances, in its aqueous and atmospheric envelopes.
Passing over the general subject of tidal movements the
theory of which is by no means perfect, and the remarkable
undulations of the ocean, which are at times associated with
earthquakes, and at others appear to have no connexion
with them, I ask particular attention to a phenomenon of
constant occurrence on every ocean, never heretofore, to my
knowledge, noticed by physicists, and which is strikingly
dynamical as well as meteorological in all its bearings.
Every mariner will immediately recognise it by his own
characteristic name, as soon as the description meets his eye.
I was many years ago so forcibly impressed by this appearance, that I have made it a subject of observation and study,
through many extended voyages, upon all the oceans of the
globe.  It is a phenomenon the most perfectly exhibited at
the calmest hours, and when there have been no storms to
disturb the sea.  I believe now that it depends upon a
positive radiation of the repulsive force, as a definite cosmic
principle, which acts upon the body of the waters to rarefy,
in like manner (although in an opposite sense) as attraction
acts to condense them, and that in this method of action
it becomes also an evaporating agent. In the night this
condition of the ocean is often accompanied with a fiery
luminosity.  The general term  " radiation" expresses the
true mechanism, or physics, of this telluric function. The
appearance of the phenomenon referred to, in its most active
conditions and under the most favourable aspects for observation, is as follows:-A vessel will be lazily fanning along,
rising and falling upon the gentle undulation of a smooth
sea, and scarcely moved by the slightest breath of air, when,
in some direction, ahead or around, the water will appear
agitated; and soon the observer is in the midst of a disturbed
surface. There is still hardly a breath of wind. Indeed, it
often becomes much calmer than at first.  All aerial move-.ments die away, the sails flap against the masts, and the
vessel will toss as if jarred by adverse and tumultuous




1 12               FORCE AVND) Nd URE.
impulses all around her bows and stern and beneath her
keel.  The condition of these spots in the ocean is very
singular.  They are sometimes small, at other times they
cover large areas, and have smooth undisturbed patches in
the midst of them.  Some physicists might at first sight
suppose them to be results of the meeting and intermixture
of adverse currents: but the most curious part of the phenomenon is yet to be described.  The water appears to be
alive. It sparkles and moves with such lightness and spirit
as to give the impression that it is charged with gas. The
waves absolutely dance, and jump up, and separate into
wavelets, and point into innumerable cones, and then burst
upwards into drops and bubbles and spray as if they were
thrown up by the snapping of millions of fingers underneath
the water.  Not only do these drops not go back into the
sea, but they further continue to break up into the finest
sparkling droplets, rising higher and higher till they vanish
into mist.  Whether they sink immediately back again or
become absorbed and carried into the upper strata of the
atmosphere, succeeding events will clearly demonstrate. Soon
the air becomes hazy and the sky overcast.  Dense leaden
clouds collect as if by enchantment, and rain falls in a deluge.
For a few moments this tumultuous uprising, bursting, sparkling surface of the sea is beaten down, and the vessel will
lie and roll in a perfect calm, with floods sweeping across
the deck and the scuppers not ample enough to vent the rain.
Before the sky has completely discharged its burden, the
ocean is observed to be executing the same upheaving performance; clouds condense again overhead and around, and
the rainfall is repeated. This state of things may continue
for hours, or it may suddenly cease, and the excited surface
of the ocean return to its ordinary aspects.
The intensity and definiteness of this phenomenon vary
with circumstances; but in all its variety of expression,
whether at equator or pole, it is as clear to my mind that
repulsion, radiating from  the profound realms of the planet,
carries up this water from  the ocean, as that gravitation




NATURE AND ACTION OF FORCE                 113
brings it in bulk down again.  Even the very secret agency
of this method of distillation, by which fresh-water may be
eliminated from the great natural saline basins, strengthens
the probability that repulsion is the elementary principle
which causes this phenomenon, since all observations and
experiments show that repulsive force has positive affinities
for the gases composing water above all other matter, and it
is reasonable to conclude that this force selects and seizes
on these particles to the exclusion of the crystallizable ones
upon which the antagonistic force of gravitation exerts for
the time being a stronger power.
When it is understood that these currents of repulsive force
possess the same subtlety and power as those of attraction,
and that they carry all atoms with them  in all directions
away from the earth's centre as gravitation brings all atoms
over which it exerts the greatest power downwards, we shall
the more satisfactorily  arrive at an explanation of this
phenomenon.  But in the production of waterspouts the
action of this force cannot be mistaken, since it plays as
conspicuous a function  in their development out of the
ocean into the upper regions of the atmosphere as it does in
developing a volcano; and when the facts attending this
wonderful phenomenon are delineated, the action of repulsion
will become so obvious that further illustration and discussio n upon the subject might be rendered unnecessary.
The primal conditions of the ocean attending the formation
of waterspouts are such as have been previously described,
except that they are more tumultuous. I have watched the
development of several perfect and imperfect ones, and have
studied them in action for a long time, and, therefore, describe
them from personal observation.  The ascending current of
force is so circumscribed, and, at the same time, grows so
strong, that the vapours from the little bursting wavelets
already described, collect in such volumes as to become visible
in the atmosphere as a sort of cloud near the surface of the
ocean. But it would appear that this ascending circumscribed
volume of force has been some time at work invisibly mountl




114                FORCE AND NATURE.
ing from below the surface of the sea into the upper regions of
the atmosphere; for, from a gradually forming and outspreading mass of condensing vapour, hundreds, perhaps thousands
of feet high, a funnel-shaped projection of a leaden colour is
seen gradually to descend, presenting a well-defined attenuated
tube with an uneven, still more attenuated end. This tube,
vanishing into thinnest invisible air, is directed toward another
of precisely the same character, which is now seen to be
ascending from  the inverted cone of vapour resting upon
the agitated surface of the sea. Thus the two extremities,
one rising from the water and apparently collecting mist from
the surface, the other descending from a cloud, and evidently
receiving vapour with great rapidity (for the cloud fills and
spreads out and grows leaden-coloured, thick, and heavy, and
at a distance is perhaps discharging rain), are distinctly seen
to approach each other, while the intermediate portion is still
invisible.  Little by little, sometimes rapidly, the column extending in both directions at last coalesces, becomes visible
throughout its length, and assumes an intense heavy leaden
aspect, like the cloud above and the cone below. The colour
is now uniform, and the waterspout is finished; and there it
stands, a slender, portentous pillar of cloud rooted in the
ocean and unfolding its mysterious foliage in the sky, as
distinctly defined in shape as a palm-tree in the desert or a
molten fountain playing from the bowels of Mauna Loa.  It
may be from  a few hundred to several thousand feet in
height; and when examined carefully with a good field-glass
it is discovered to be a comparatively hollow tube, since it
presents a translucent cylinder in the middle, like the hollow
structure of a hair as seen under a microscope, or a barometer
tube as seen with the naked eye.  Meantime there is no
storm around, and a ship might drift or sail into this field of
ascending force.




NATURE:AND ACTION O1F FORCE               115
15.
Since it is not my design in connexion with this particular
phenomenon to discuss the method by which a submarine
principle seizes upon atoms of purest water (generally, but
not always, rejecting the salts), the reader's attention is
exclusively confined to the active movement of simple repulsive force as a cosmico-dynamic element.  It has been
already shown that force cannot be separated from matter, or
matter from force, although it is proved by abundant experience that attraction and repulsion may, and do, mutually
exchange quantitative intensities, oscillating in their influences upon matter by processes of apparent induction and
exclusion; and that this function or law of fluctuation, of
alternate vanishing and outbreaking, ascends from molecules
to masses, and cannot exist in masses except through capacities inherent in molecules: indeed this operation of exchange,
of induction and exclusion, of substitution and ascendency
of one force over the other, is so instantaneous, subtle, and
extensive-as, for instance, in the rising and falling functions
of the pendulum-that the mind can only embrace the phenomenon by repeated successions of the fact accomplished.
This idea may be further illustrated by calling to mind a
similar phenomenon, which is exhibited by spongy platinum
in its absorption of oxygen to more than eight hundred times
its volume; and this absorption is so rapid, so instantaneous,
as proved by experiments upon it with hydrogen, that time
cannot be measured during which eight hundred volumes of
a known material substance can be absorbed and appropriated
by a single volume of other atoms.
Now if such a phenomenon as this, the absolute translation of matter, can be instantaneously and repeatedly effected
among wholly material conditions, how can we question or
doubt the instantaneous absorption and exel clsdon by Imalltttei.
of its fundamental forces of attraction and repulsionl (thei
radical principles of motion), the action of which are far
more attenuated, subtle, and searching than those of liglht
teat, electricity or magnetism?l.




116                FORCE AND NATURE.
16.
We may see by the preceding illustrations, that while
repulsion is demonstrated to be as definite and as general a
fundamental principle as gravitation, and to be the co-ordinate of it, it is also exhibited, like the latter, in union with
molecules: and the illustrations are precisely to the point,
since repulsion as a terrestrial force carries outwards in
every radius of the sphere the self-same molecules which
gravitation brings down, when its molecular increments have
again asserted supremacy over repulsion. The secret of this
fluctuating function of the attractive and repulsive forces
lies in the elementary nature of molecules, a point yet too
profound for explanation, except chemical laws are by some
method expanded into cosmical correlatives, and both expressions of the molecular forces are studied in their grandest
developments as observable in planetary motion. But these
phenomena as simple facts cannot be rejected, although their
importance may be still longer disregarded  in physical
theories. Like heat and cold, repulsion and attraction radiate
from  and pass into molecules and masses to effect equilibrium  and engender alternate tensions; except that viewed
separately these latter impart no sense of heat or cold, and
that their transmissions are so infinitely rapid as to be instantaneous and inappreciable.  Like paramagnetism  and
diamagnetism (using these principles only by way of illustration), which penetrate everything with the quickness of
thought, encountering  obstacles  nowhere, repulsion  and
attraction rush into and pervade everything, whether atom
or sun, but, unlike the former, with immeasurable velocity;
existing  nowhere in  equilibrium;  absent from  nothing,
whether matter, or heat, or magnetism; and embracing all
atoms and all worlds and all the other great natural forces
within their irresistible, universal, and everlasting grasp.
While light, heat, electricity, and magnetism  are comparatively local forces, and obviously originate by the antithetic
play  of repulsion  and attraction through molecules and
masses-that is to say, molecular motion-requiring time




AITUR'U.I  ANiD ACIlONV  O'F ORCE.         117
for transmission, and undergoing successive conversions into
each other and back again to motion, repulsion and gravitation are universal, are the originators of motion, absolutely
require no time for transmission, and never change their
identity of nature.   In fact, all the secondary forces lie
enwombed between these two.  They are to everything else
in nature what the upper and nether millstones are to grain.
As they grind, creation unfolds its manifold phenomena
throughout its ample domain; and from  crudest matter
spring forth warmth and being.
The immortal Michael Faraday, endowed with all the perseverance of the ancient alchemists during their vain search
after the philosopher's stone, has failed to find that magnetism
is molecular attraction or attraction of gravitation; but while
he has convinced himself that it is not, he is still constrained to believe that it must in some way be allied to, or
hold some definite relations with gravitation, or that gravitation  must possess some property or principle not yet
ascertained or understood.  All observations of magnetic
phenomena tend to this same obscure conclusion.  In no
field of inquiry is progress more retarded by the prevailing
theory of the existence of only one fundamental universal
force, than in that of magnetism.  Neither this, nor any
other secondary force, can be generated in any experiment by
molecular attraction  alone.  They never appear, and are
never active or functional, unless molecular repulsion is in
absolute play with attraction in varying degrees of intensity;
and the secondary force generated is in direct ratio to the
amount of molecular repulsion spent upon the experiment.
The existence, therefore, of magnetism  as a terrestrial force
implies the absolute certainty of the capacity of molecular
repulsion to unite its individual forces into volumes, and thus
to expand itself into a function or force with planetary magnitudes; establishes the fact that molecular motion must be
generated throughout the globe as the result of attraction and
repulsion at work on a planetary  scale and as cosmical
principles; and brings us to the final conclusion that REPULSION is one of the bases and originators of the entire range of




11 S  FORCE AND VNATURE.
natural forces and phenomena of a planetary and mechanical
character.
Such is partly the nature and action of repulsive force.
Although the subject has by no means been exhaustively
treated, a multitude of illustrations being necessarily omitted
for the purpose of brevity, yet enough has been presented to
open long avenues of progress in various directions. It will
be perceived how difficult it is to disentangle attraction and
repulsion, as pure and independent entities and forces, from
matter, and especially from the chemical forces; for chemical
laws, and all the secondary forces, modify the conditions of
matter for receptivities of these radical principles, and complicate the analysis of this subject.  But, once presented
in a forcible and distinct manner to the earnest scholarship
of coming time, I believe Repulsion will be identified as a
positive and imperial agent of nature, and will never be
relinquished by the physical sciences.
Attraction draws everything to the earth's centre, and is
made known to us by the falling of atoms.  Repulsion
projects everything from  the earth's centre, and is made
known to us by the rising of atoms.  A  grain of sand falls
straight to the centre of gravity throughout every point of the
earth's surface. A spark flies upward throughout every one
of the same points.  The chemical nature of the grain of
sand or of the spark is not in question, only the forces which
guide ultimate atoms, as elemental agents-agents far more
subtle than oxygen or carbon, or heat itself.
17.
But one of the most important of the laws connected
with the nature, and governing the action and effects, of
repulsion, is, that when observed to exert itself in a normal
manner, the phenomenal results of its action are always at
RIGHT ANGLES to attrcction, wheth~er it be studied as a molecular, terrestrial, or cosmic force: and it is in the develop



NA- TURE ANTD ACTION OF FORCE.             119
meent of this law  that we shall discover the secrets of
planetary rotation and of all physical motion.
The announcement of a law of this character and in this
form will at first appear doubtful or difficult of comprehension to those who view  repulsion as a force acting in a
strictly opposing sense to attraction in all its material relations.  But it must be remembered that matter and masses
can move in no direction except through the action of force
-and force alone-upon their molecules, both singly and
collectively.
Now the terms in which I express this law are simply
explanatory of the axiom  laid down by Sir Isaac Newton:
-" To every action there always is opposed an equal reaction;
or, the mutuma  actions of two bodies upon each other are
"always equal, and directed to contrary 2arts."
The differences in the manifestations of repulsive force,
developed as a dynamical element, depend altogether upon
the chemical constitutions of the bodies through which it acts,
as an abstract entity; and this is a point which cannot be
fully discussed in this connexion. But it scarcely requires
elaboration, since it must be immediately evident. An illustration or two will set forth this law  in its practical or
material bearings; and hereafter, when it is unfolded in
connexion with the correlation of forces, and the conversion
of one form of energy into another, I trust it will be clearly
apprehended and accepted.
Two elastic balls, as of india-rubber or ivory, when forced
together, rebound.  The molecules in each react upon one
another, and experiments now prove that all reactionary force,
when exerted in the masses of bodies, proceeds from the centre
of those bodies, into whatsoever point the force may appear
as an effective and measurable quantity. The first action in
each of the elastic balls when they strike, is to flatten from
pole to pole in the lines of their motion, and expand in their
equators through the effect of the reactionary principle.
This reactionary principle, thus manifested, is the repulsion
of each molecule united into a voluminous expression of




I 20              PFORC0 LE AND NV iNRETUR.
mechanical energy, directed from the central molecule to the
equatorial circumference.  This is the first step in the
phenomenon. But in order to bring about the rebound which
is the phenomenon of palpable reaction, as the term and act
are commonly understood, these very molecules which were
previously projected to the circumference by a centrifugal
force, immediately spring back again  in' virtue of their
property of cohesion (a chemical condition), and redevelop
the same principle or function of force at the impinging
poles, the physical action of which becomes again projectile,
in a contrary direction to the primnary impulses. In each step
the dynamical phenomena have been developed at right
angles: in the first, to the straight lines of projectile motion;
in the second, to the centripetal action which simultaneously
re-establishes the rotundity of the two balls, and the equilibrium of the antagonistic forces.
The first phenomenon is specially manifested and clearly
expressed in an exclusive manner, so to speak, when plastic
balls strike each other. They flatten and coalesce. The attractive force unites them.  The repulsive element expands them,
in whatsoever direction expansion or reaction takes place.
When brittle substances strike and break, their fragments
fly at right angles to the lines of the projectile force.
Action and reaction are equal and contrary, and I doubt if
the law, as it is clearly displayed throughout nature, could
be more definitely stated than it has been by Newton himself.
These phenomenal effects of masses of matter upon each
other are so common as not to excite attention, or suggest a
question of the modus agendi of the energies at work upon
their interior radii, or of the changes which occur in them in
virtue of the action of the communicated, or of their respective innate forces, of attraction and repulsion considered as
abstract and separate entities.
To imagine, in order to explain such results, that attraction
is decomposed, and that it resolves itself into reaction or repulsion, does not simplify the difficulty of comprehending the
combination of forces with matter, or of their action upon matter.




A'.TULE AND L AC/'TON  01' FOR CA'       1 2 
If dynamic energy be a unit and expressed in the single
word FORCE, we see, nevertheless, that this FORCE is immediately separable, by every form of experiment and every
method of reasoning and induction, into two elements or
functions; and that these two functions are the direct
and absolute opposites of each other, when considered as
abstract principles, and when lying dormant, so to speak, in
nature.  But when excited into sensible action, and when
matter is subjected to their conflicting agencies, all observavation and experiment show that, while action and reaction
are equal and opposite, the phenomenal results, wheresoever molecules can move in the most natural manner and
freest sense, are equatorial and at right angles.  No demonstration is required to prove that the force which produces
cracks, fissures, disruptions, and chasms in dense and hard
bodies, whatsoever their magnitude, whether a pane of glass,
a pebble, a mountain, or a world, is not that which produces
condensation and cohesion.  The statement that the two
forces which produce these contrary effects are the opposites
and equals of each other is a truism which it is unnecessary
to repeat; and yet all the physical results of the action of
these two forces upon matter, when molecules and masses are
free to move in space, are displayed at right angles to each
other.
In our chapter upon' Mechanical Force," this branch of
the subject will be further discussed; and the discoveries of
Oersted in dynamic electricity, as developed mathematically
by Ampere, will carry us into considerations of the nature
and action of these forces, and of the methods through which
all forms of force become correlated and conservable.  I will
not, however, anticipate the treatment of that branch of our
discussion; yet I may be permitted to say in closing this
chapter, that we shall find the principle here enunciated to
pervade even the morphological development of every class
of organisms, thus showing a fundamental connexion between
the planet and its inhabitants, and between matter, force,
instinct, and mind.




CHAPTER IX.
COSMICAL REPULSION.
1.
IN the preceding chapter we have endeavoured to establish
the important truth that molecular repulsion, like molecular attraction, is capable of swelling into and assuming
voluminous conditions; that it does, as a positive pure force
with a distinct, definite, and independent function, move
matter in masses away from the earth's centre, in the same
incomprehensible manner as gravitation draws masses to that
centre; and that it holds such relations to gravitation as to
exchange functions with the latter in so instantaneous a
manner, as to execute, with fluctuating intensities, all the
mysterious movements of molecules and masses, thereby perfecting that harmony and stability combined with  eternal
activity so visible throughout the realms of nature.
If repulsion assumes terrestrial magnitudes and functions,
as it evidently does, since eruptive energy has always been,
and continues to be, manifested from the earth's interior in
every latitude and longitude; since crystallization is universal
throughout its mineral crust; since its surface teems with
vegetable and animal forms which could not spring from,
and mount upwards, nor be detached from  and become
locomotive upon the globe, if attraction alone reigned; since
its aqueous envelope is incompressible; since its atmosphere
is but fluid and solid matter expanded into gases; since




COSMICAL REP ULSION.                  1 23
winds (phenomena depending upon the gravitation of these
gases to fill spaces primarily rarefied or made vacant by REPULSION) are universal, constant, and often fearfully violent;-if
repulsion assumes terrestrial magnitudes and functions, as the
foregoing facts clearly demonstrate, then it becomes, indeed,
a truly planetary force, as much so as gravitation, and must
be so considered.  No movement of a molecule takes place in,
or upon, or around the globe, into which this force does not
enter and perform  its part, as well as attraction.  If the
latter be a universal terrestrial force, so is the former. Not a
breath, not a ripple moves in air or sea, not a drop of water
flows along a channel, quivers in a waterfall, or pours upon
a wheel, the resistance and reaction to which is not at its
foundation repulsive force springing into mechanical energy
and productive power.  The planet is full of it to saturation;
and in proportion as gravitation manifests its special agency,
and apparently predominates, repulsion is instantly developed
to supplant it, and vice versa; so that both spring alternately
into tension, or suddenly vanish, so far as our faculties can
detect their action. As to activity of function, they appear
to act upon a principle similar to a fundamental one laid
down in physics, which declares it impossible for two atoms
of matter to occupy the same point of space at the same
time. Thus it will be seen that while repulsion charges the
earth to repletion, it is at the same time a restless force, and
becomes almost palpable as the great, living, working power
of nature; and that while gravitation tends to stability and
unity, repulsion tends to motion and production.
2.
Now, since repulsion, pervading the globe as it does from
its centre to its outmost atmospheric boundaries, is as much
a planetary force as gravitation, it necessarily becomes a COSMICAL power, and must be as capable as gravitation of extending




1. 2, 4            FORCE AlD Ji AXtil'URK.
its influences and functions to other cosmical bodies, and of
receiving similar influences from them.
But are other cosmical bodies-suns, planets, satellites,
comets-also charged with repulsion, as we have proved our
own globe to be?  It will not be difficult, I think, to arrive
at the affirmative of this question if we follow  Nature
step by step from her subtlest traceable principles into her
grandest physical developments.  It is  admitted  that
every body in the universe is composed of molecules, and
that the natural action  and reaction of these molecules
depend upon the existence and activity therein of the two
well-known  molecular forces, attraction  and  repulsion.
These, as I have attempted to show, assume and manifest
plcanetary powers and functions; and this fact becomes selfevident, inasmuch as these bodies display different degrees of
density.  Besides these individual and local conditions in all,
both comets and planets disclose a remarkable universal law
of varying density, holding inverse numerical proportions to
their respective distances from  the sun -VARIATIONS OF
DENSITY, that is to say of INTERNAL COHESIVE ATTRACTION of
a FLEXIBLE AND FLUCTUATING CHARACTER, bearing constant
inverse relations to the length and sweep2 of their respective radii
vectores.  Why is this, except that the sun, as a controlling
body, and a larger volume, so to speak, both of repulsive
and attractive force (not necessarily of magnetic, electric, or
thermic force, as we shall be hereafter convinced, but of pure
gravitation and repulsion, as distinct, independent, and fundamental forces), holds direct relations with similar forces, or
volumes of force, in all these revolving spheres; thereby
exerting and exchanging influences (not necessarily the forces,
the very entities, themselves)-influences which, so far as
attraction is exerted, have already been proved to be mutual,
and to depend upon elements of mass and distance only?
If all these spheres, like our own, be also charged with molecular repulsion, are we to suppose it plays no part in the
movements or phenomena of the universe as a physical whole
and a complex machine?




COSMiIICAL REP ULSION.               125
3.
Now, the simple facts that the planets exhibit different
densities and weights, the numerical values of which hold
notable relations to the respective heliocentric positions of
these bodies, are so striking as to incite not only attention to
this field of cosmical physics, but also a careful inquiry into
the action of planetary laws and final causes.
When observation is directed to another class of celestial
bodies, to comets, whose paths are more varied and eccentric,
and whose translucency favours more accurate internal study,
the same conditions are noted; but instead of tracing this
fact by steps of number, weight, and density, so to speak,
through successive chasms in space from the Sun to Mercury,
Venus, and so on to Neptune, the phenomenon can be distinguished with the naked eye, or with telescopic aid, as a
positive, continuous, and connected result of the action of
an invariable law, while these spheres advance from  the
outer regions of our system to their perihelia, or recede again
into the immensity of space.  We are thus awakened to comprehend this mighty physical truth, that an entire series of
heavenly bodies can condense and expand to such measurable
degrees, like masses of gold and iron, or volumes of gas, in
virtue of solar influences; and are compelled to believe that
a universal force of repu2lsion, as well as of attraction, reigns
throughout the cosmos, the influences of which can operate
among planets and  stars as instantly and incessantly, as
potentially and positively, as they do among atoms and
through the pendulum upon our own whirling sphere.
The ordinary phenomena distinguishable in all comets as
they approach the sun, pass perihelia, and recede into space,
only require simple description to  convince  every clearminded physicist that gravitation is not an unique force in
celestial mechanics. When comets are first descried, at remotest distances, journeying toward the sun, they are diffuse,
nebulous, misty objects, with or without observable central




126                FORCE AND NATURE.
points of greater brightness than the rest of the body. As
they approach the sun, they progressively condense, and a
central brightness appears; or if at first apparent, this grows
more concentrated and intense. It may be that a tail begins
to push out. These phenomena steadily augment, the disk
becoming smaller, more defined in circumference, and dense
at centre; and by the time a comet has reached perihelion,
and for some hours or days afterwards, all its elements of
matter and force exhibit the most intense agitation, and the
action of a repulsive force becomes as visible throughout its
translucent volume as that of gravitation.  In the great
comets, whose perihelic distances have been smallest, the
nucleus glows like a furnace, and boils from centre to circumference with marvellous motion.  If gravitation alone
existed throughout these masses of cometary matter, not the
slightest reactionary motion would be visible in them. But
in addition to this molecular agitation, which clearly demonstrates the intense play of antagonistic forces, generating as
a consequence secondary forces of light, &c. to be discussed
hereafter, another condition arises in these bodies, which
illustrates the predominance of cosmical repulsion during
their retrocession,  as incontrovertibly as attraction was
predominant while they approached the sun.  When comets
have passed their perihelia and commence their backward
journeys they are seen to expand, to fade in brightness,
to be less agitated throughout, to be less clearly defined in
circumference, to withdraw  gradually, and at last to lose
altogether, their radiating appendages, to become more and
more diffuse and misty, and ultimately to regain their original
physical conditions.
This is a general description of the physical appearances
of this class of cosmical bodies, as they have been always
observed, and of late years more definitely studied by Messrs.
Bond of Cambridge, U.S. and other eminent telescopic astronomers.  The phenomena are quantitative, measurable, alnd
computable; and, as cosmical facts, are entirely pertinent to
our subject.




COSAICGAL RIEPULSION.                 127
A succinct presentation of three important facts among
the most striking in their successive transfigurations will
elucidate the point to be established.
When first observed to approach the sun from the remotest
distances, comets possess their largest dimensions, and are
seen to contract steadily in size and increase in apparent
density up to their perihelia and somewhat beyond it.  In
this fact the predominance  of attraction is observed  to
reign throughout their molecular structure, and to produce, as in the physical constitution of planets, a direct
increase of density in proportion to the attraction exerted
upon their entire mass by the sun. In a word, the attraction
of their individual molecules toward their respective centres,
as a quantitative and internal cosmical force constituting the
body as a sphere, is in direct numerical proportion to the
attraction exerted upon their entire masses by the sun. This
is a remarkable condition of things, and cannot too much
enlist the attention of physicists; because it shows that powers
inherent in the sun exert absolute and constant control over
every atom  of matter in bodies revolving around it, however
near or distant; and that there is a universal law regulating
incessant interchanges of influence in some way (not, I hold,
direct translations of each other's individual forces across
space) between the sun and the centre of every planet and
comet; and that no body in our system  possesses an independent constitution of its own.  This is certainly the case
with attraction: for we have heretofore traced it ascending
from molecular into terrestrial functions; and now it is seen
expanding into universal planetary conditions, induced and
governed by demonstrable influences of some sort springing
from the great centre of gravitative force. Whatever reasons
(whether from  mathematical or imperfect magnetical data)
scientific men may have heretofore had for suspecting direct
interplanetary communications, they are proved beyond all
question by rigorous analysis of this class of physico-cosmical
phenomena.  By this remark I do not mean it to be understood that there necessarily ensues qunantitative and positive




128                FOR]CE AND  TATURZ,.
interchanges of each other's allotted sums of energy, or fixed
means of work and motion; but mutual susceptibilities, or a
sensitiveness, so to speak, to the neighbourhood or distance
of each other's masses and contained sums of motive power.
At the same time, it cannot be overlooked  that the
luminous phenomena displayed in the outstreaming motion
of comets' tails, always in directions away from the sun
and more or less in a line with the radius vector, are indicative of an influence positively dynamical and repulsive which
extends far into the interstellar spaces.  This fact, however,
will be less difficult of explanation when it is remembered
that the sun is constantly interchanging its influences (whatever they may be) with all the stars in all directions (as well
as with the members of its own system), and that the luminous lines of a comet's tail only follow the lines of the stellar
connexions at every point of the paths of these remarkably
ethereal and sensitive bodies.
The second fact, to which I invite careful attention, is the
remarkable agitation which occurs in comets when in perihelia. Attraction alone cannot create this internal cosmical
disturbance.  This anomaly, or paradox, forced itself upon
the judgment of the late lamented Cambridge astronomers,
the elder and younger Bond, when, in 1858, they studied the
remarkable agitations of Donati's comet.  I was permitted by
those eminent observers to examine that wonderful object
through the great equatorial telescope of Harvard College;
and on that occasion the elder Bond announced to me his
conviction that, notwithstanding all that was said of gravitation, a repulsive force was evidently at work throughout that
body.  These observations confirmed conclusions of my own,
derived from studies of earlier data, which were published in
1853, and then affirmed to be of universal application.
It is, indeed, evident that there must be an antagonistic
force in conflict with attraction to produce the outward
surgings so observable in this translucent class of bodies.
Since all the conditions of these phenomena are traceable,
from what has preceded, to moleczlar relations of matter and




COSMIICJIL REPULSION.                 129
force, we can scarcely doubt that molecular repulsion, tranquilly performing its legitimate function in maintaining the
sphere at its maximum  of expansibility while remotest from
the sun, subsequently yields its predominant influence as
solar gravitation grasps and draws the comet onward as
if to absorb it into the solar mass; and that at last, enduring
this sort of grasp no longer, its concentrated energy is aroused
into a positive reflex function.  The conflict of force begins
in earnest when both attraction and repulsion, in extremest
tension at perihelion, are excited into stronger efforts to
separate from each other; the former to unite with, the latter
to alienate its special form of energy and elongate it by
polarity, so to speak, from  the solar reservoir of cognate
forms of force.  The peculiar physical constitution of comets
renders the action of these fluctuating forces visible and
unmistakeable to the human eye.  Striking phenomena and
new forces are developed by them.  Molecules throb, and
currents and oceans of lights and shadows swell, and vibrate,
and roll backwards and forwards with alternate intensities of
repulsion and gravitation; and it is in this condition that a
great comet, always a wonder to mankind in all ages, seems
to be presented to advancing science as an angel of light for
the purpose of illuminating the hidden depths of nature, and
exhibiting a clue whereby to follow up the laws and discover
the marvellous secrets of the Most High.
The third fact would appear to remove all doubt from the
subject: as soon as a comet has entered upon its journey
away from  the sun, the internal force which immediately
takes the place of attraction and assumes a positive predominance, becomes demonstrable repulsion.  This it proved
by a phenomenon so visible and constant, that physicists
and mathematicians the most wedded to the prevailing hypothesis of an unique force acting upon inert bodies by exterior
impulses, must be not only led to question its correctness, but
also compelled to extend their views and inquiries. The same
agitation before described continues for a while from centre
to circumference of the receding body; but, instead of beK




130                FORCE AND NATURE.
coming smaller in volume, as when advancing to and passing
through perihelion, the comet becomes larger; and although
dilating and contracting to measurable extents by a species of
vibrating molecular impulses, it steadily increases in dimensions, becomes less agitated, loses the brightness of its
nucleus, and its general density, and gradually assumes its
original size and misty nebulous characteristics in remotest
space. In proportion as the body recedes from the sun, its
individual particles become loosened from the force which
drew them  to the centre as it approached perihelion, and
they not only decentralize-that is to say, recede from the
centre, as is shown by the comet's nucleus becoming more
feeble in luminous intensity, or splitting into several nucleibut they also recede from  each other, at first with violence,
and at last with a steady expansive action, just as we observe
hydrogen to expand in a balloon in proportion as the balloon
recedes from the earth.  To call these and similar phenomena
simple " reaction" explains nothing; for reaction, as a word,
means nothing unless it represents an idea of direct and positive physical force. If it mean anything, then, it expresses
a force opposite in action to that which drew the particles
toward the centre and increased the density of the comet's
mass as it approached the sun.  If it be a force-a positive
principle exerting action opposite to attraction —it is the
equivalent of molecular repulsion, admitted by every writer
on molecular physics, and which has already been demonstrated to be susceptible in our own planet of swelling into
indefinite volumes, of producing general radial phenomena,
and of becoming an absolute planetary force, the properties
of which are everywhere similar, and always expressed in
functions of a cognate and voluminously repulsive character.
And it may well be concluded from all which precedes, that
the final principle of nature which, throughout our globe,
expands matter, creates the waterspout, guides the currents
of vital force and molecules in the palm-tree and pine,
lifts plutonic fires thousands of feet high, shakes alike
centre and circumference, causes flame to ascend perpendi



COSIICAL REPULSION.                   131
cularly from  every radius of the sphere, is no other than
a positive living force of repulsion, —a principle of energy the
opposite of attraction; and that it not only performs the same
function in every planet and comet, but also is the identical
principle which, in every star and controlling central body
of a system, determines and guides all radial phenomena in
their outward courses; and in our own system, proceeding
from the sun, projects the comet's tail in all its radial aspects
in the same manner as repulsion, ever insensibly radiating
from  the earth's centre, projects the ascending  atoms or
luminous currents from a burning taper. It is one and the
same principle, as universal in its reach as gravitation, and
ever antagonistic to it, whether in a molecule or a world.
It is the occult principle of energy, the final element of
antithetic power, per se, in polarity, as will be more clearly
seen hereafter.
Upon these demonstrations we might rest with this part of
our subject.  But as if comets were very messengers of light
to physical science and modern discovery, they present other
phenomena too pertinent to our discussion to be overlooked.
4.
It will be admitted by all candid physicists, that no planet
or other great volume of atoms can divide itself into several
parts which shall separate many thousand niles asunder, and
so continue, approaching and receding from one another more
or less during successive revolutions around the  sun, if
attraction of gravitation be the only reigning force in matter
or cosmical systems.
Biela's comet, an object known to be embraced within the
constitution of our own system, whose periodic revolution of
64 years has been long determined, and whose return to
peihhelion has been repeatedly observed, was perceived in
December 1845, after having passed perihelion, and during
K 2




132                FORl CE ANTD NA TUR
great internal agitation, to divide itself into two distinct
bodies of nearly equal size.  These bodies-now lost-continued to travel together during several revolutions as two
clearly definable comets, returning to perihelion with great
regularity, and fluctuating, both with regard to distance from
each other and to the intensities of their internal molecular
motions as they drew near to and receded from  the sun;
and they mutually exhibited such phenomena as to leave no
doubt of constant interchanges of influences, affecting the
activities or energies of their respective molecular and general
forces;-~activities visibly, if not measurably, swelling into
cosmical magnitudes, and appearing in all respects dependent
upon their relations of distance from the sun.
The extraordinary fact of the further disruption or the final
dissolution of these two fragments of Biela's comet, only
strengthens the inference which I am endeavouring to draw
from that of their first division or segmentation.
Fortunately for science and philosophy, such a remarkable
fact does not stand alone in the field of astronomical observation. On the 26th of February, 1860, another double comet
was discovered at Olinda, Brazil, by M. Emmanuel Liais,
formerly attached to the Paris Observatory, and of late
Astronomer to the Brazilian Government.  In his communication to the French Academy of Sciences, and also in
his volume "2L'Espace Celeste et la Nature Tropicale," MV. Liais
carefully  described  this  remarkable  phenomenon:  "The
" comet consisted of two distinct nebulosities, one of which
" was many times larger than the other.  The intensity of
" both was very weak.  The distance between the two, when
" first observed, was 27 seconds of time in right ascension,
" and less than 1' 8" in south declination. On the 29th of
" February, and the 3d of March, this distance was found to
"have diminished to 23 seconds R. A. and 46" Dec. respec"tively, and on the 10th it had diminished again to 21
" seconds and 21".  The smaller comet was always circular,
" with a nucleus in the centre; the larger one was elliptical,
with a nucleus in one of the foci, or nearly so; but on the




COSMICIL REPULSION.                  133
"11th of March it appeared to have three, but this changed
"again on the 12th, when only the usual one remained
"visible, but much larger. On the 13th the small comet was
"no longer visible, and the large one was nearly circular,
"with greater intensity in the centre, gradually diminishing
"towards the borders.  After the 13th, M. Liais did not
"see the comet again, owing to the state of the weather.
"Its elements are stated as follow:-Perihelion distance,
" 1197,342; inclination, 79~ 35' 545"; longitude of the
"ascending node, 324~ 3' 254"; longitude of perihelion,
173~ 45' 21-1"; passing through perihelion, Feb. 16th, at'13h. 50m. 65s. Motion direct."
Notwithstanding Liais's comet was not seen to separate
like Biela's, the facts above recorded will leave no doubt that
both these bodies were originally a single one, which divided
in the same manner as Biela's, in consequence of the predominance of an internal force, the opposite of attraction, and
of gravitation.  What can this be but repulsion, molecular
and cosmical, in its visible and active phenomenal results?
Besides these two remarkable facts, so important to a true,
understanding and solid development of celestial physics,
there stands upon record another phenomenon still more
extraordinary (and unique so far as my researches extend),
confirming the existence of repulsion  as a force, whose
functional activity may not only partially or locally predominate over that of gravitation, so far as to divide a cosmic
mass into two distinct spheres, but even so entirely to transcend it as to split a comet into infinite fragments, and
scatter them instantly out of sight, as if by evaporation; or
as a balloon full of hydrogen would burst and vanish in
the sky.
The first telescopic comet of the year 1818, when in perihelion, and at the time it was expected to exhibit its greatest
internal agitation and its most intense luminous phenomena,
suddenly broke up, dissolved, and wholly disappeared, to the
astonishment of observers. (Astronomie de l'Amateur.  Par
G. HIRZEL. Geneva and Paris, 1820, p. 269.)




13 4                FORCE AND NATURE.
The great antiquity of the observation of Democritus, who
thought he saw a comet divide, and resolve itself into a great
number of small stars, I will only mention as a curious
record, receiving authenticity from  the preceding well-sustained facts observed within my own lifetime.
The same may be said of the statement transmitted by
Ephorus, a Greek historian, who records that the comet of
the year 371 B.c. separated into two parts, which pursued
different paths.  Notwithstanding that Seneca doubted this
event, more modern observations render it not impossible.
Kepler thought and insisted, notwithstanding that Pingre
and others ridiculed his opinion, that the second comet of
1618 divided into several parts.  But Figueroes at Ispahan,
Blancanus at Parma, and a Jesuit missionary at Goa, saw
two comets at the same time, in the same part of the
heavens, both having direct motion toward the north, and
the second appearing suddenly (as if it had had its birth from
the first) when the first had been continuously visible several
weeks, thus confirming the observations  of Kepler: and
modern discovery renders his opinion very probable.
The astronomical records of the Chinese previous to A.D.
1000 make mention of several double comets which pursued
their course in company.
5.
It is for physicists to contemplate these facts with all their
pregnant import.  No mechanical theory of the universe,
however ancient or honoured, or authoritative its origin, can
put them out of sight.  No mathematical astronomer, whatever his eminence, can gainsay or reject them.  There they
stand as physical facts, as positive and durable as the sun, or
as the rings of Saturn, with all thetir continuous breakings up
and fluctuating changes, and they must be explained upon
rational principles. Considered in the light of attraction of




COSMICilL REPULSION.                   135
gravitation alone, they are inexplicable anomalies, and must
excite doubts of the exclusive universality of its reign.
Doubts upon the subject of gravitation would indeed be
errors, when proofs of its universal nature and action are so
numerous and certain.  When these remarkable facts are
viewed, however, as physical possibilities and phenomena appertaining to, and inseparable from, atoms and spheres, lying
between and subordinate to the action of twco great fundamental forces, co-ordinates of each other, whose functions
become excited and augmented by solar influences of an
inconstant character, and whose antagonistic energies intensify from  centre to circumference in every sphere in inverse
numerical proportions of distance from the sun-that is to
say, the nearer the sun, the greater the internal agitation, and
vice versd-they will no longer rank as anomalies, but receive
immediate solution.
6.
The general display of fluctuating dynamical forces, so constant and remarkable in comets at perihelion, augmenting
occasionally into exceptional phenomena of unusual violence,
are conditions which  should arouse every philosopher to
question if they be merely local phenomena-that is to say,
confined to comets only-or if they be not reproduced, in
some manner or degree, in every other cosmical body which
enters into the constitution  of our system, and in direct
numerical ratios to the length of its radius vector.  These
mechanical conditions  and  changes  are  observable  and
measurable in all diaphanous bodies which form  part of our
system, or temporarily enter it to wind their eccentric ways
around the sun.  So far as the records of astronomy present
well-observed facts, there are no exceptions to the reign of
contrary and violent forces acting from the centres of comets
to their circumference, and vice ve'rsS, in direct numerical




136                  FORCE AND NATURE.
ratios to their heliocentric distances. The progressive density
and rarity, or condensation and expansion of these bodies, as
they approach and recede from perihelion, as judged by successive transitions of internal phenomena, obviously follow
the same law which determines the molecular constitution
and internal cohesive force of planets, and which governs
their distribution into their respective orbits. These internal
conditions, dependent altogether upon fundamental molecular
forces swelling into mighty cosmical impulses under solar
excitation, evidently control the planetary motions, modify
heliocentric distances, and suggest the only solid theory and
natural system of celestial dynamics. These steady transitions of cohesive force-in other words, of molecular repulsion and attraction-which have already swollen into cosmical
volumes, and which, drawing atoms into globes, now  constitute central planetary forces;-these steady transitions
of density in spheres thus constituted, directly dependent
as they appear to be upon the nearness of bodies to the sun,
and so observable through the elongated paths which some
comets trace from orbit to orbit of the globes whose respective
mean densities and weights have been mathematically established (at least approximately established), show beyond a
doubt that the law which determines this function with its
ascending and descending magnitudes in one sphere, must
determine it in all, whether opaque or translucent.
Now, since the molecular constitution of all is more or
less alike, with densities depending upon inverse numerical
ratios of heliocentric distance; and since all revolve around
the sun in orbits more or less elliptical or eccentric, with
the sun in one of the foci of these orbits (and never in
the centre), thereby demonstrating positive uniformity in
physical economy, indicating common origin, and proving
a single fundamental organic act to have ushered in  the
plan, creation, arrangement, motion, and mutual relations of
all; it follows that the same solar forces which govern the
cohesion and central fluctuations of density in one, must
govern these phenomena in all. Therefore, if repulsion be a




COSMIC.AL REPULSION.                   137
demonstrated force, whose cosmical magnitudes and functions
in  comets are incontrovertible, it becomes equally so in
planets, satellites, and asteroids; and as an element in celestial physics it demands as complete a recognition by science
as its co-ordinate of gravitation.  While astronomers may
accept it as a legitimate means of correcting theories and
discussing anomalies, mathematicians will find no substantial
reason to reject it as a conflicting element in their discussions, since it simply replaces an assumed and doubtful by a
positive and living power. By physicists it should be studied
with special application to the great problems-yet so obscure-involved in the production of light, heat, electricity,
and magnetism in all their terrestrial and cosmical aspects.
7.
As conclusive and incontrovertible as are the facts of the
absolute divisions of comets into several parts, and of their
subsequent companionship-thus, as I assert, plainly proving
a cosmical force of repulsion to exist in, and to interchange
its reactionary influences in some obscure but mutual way
between, these bodies-the action of this force within them
is confirmed by the separation of the nuclei of some into
several distinct nuclei, the luminous intensities of which are
perceptibly different from the rest of the comet, thus presenting (so to speak) several nuclei suspended in and surrounded
by the same diaphanous disc.  This phenomenon has been
observed in a number of comets, and it demonstrates molecular activities which could not take place if attraction of
gravitation reigned alone throughout these cosmical masses.
Associating this class of facts with the constant phenomenon
of internal agitation, evolving itself concentrically or progressively from  centre to circumference, and vice versa, as
if the comet were a boiling mass whose most active energies
sprung from  its centre and returned into the same point;




138                FORCE AND NBTURE.
and appreciating all these varieties of physical condition
as phenomenal results of the action of two constant forces
whose energies depend upon special numerical ratios of
distance of the cometary centre from the solar centre; we
can no longer reject the conclusion that cosmical repulsion
governs the molecular relations of revolving bodies as well
as cosmical attraction, or what is called in more common
language, attraction of gravitation.  Whatever conditions
there may be about these phenomena which we do not
understand, the incompleteness of our knowledge and the
extraordinary character of the events should only stimulate
us the more to study them until they be philosophically and
fully comprehended.
The phenomena connected with the development of the
tails of comets, as these bodies approach perihelion, and the
changes which they undergo during their visible retrogression,
might be treated at length in their bearing upon this subject,
but I will only refer to them  as facts which, when investigated in all aspects, will more strongly confirm  the
conclusions already derived from studies of the nuclei.
8.
The constancy of all these facts-that is, of the internal
molecular motions observable in diaphanous cosmic bodies
during their contiguity to the sun, the evident submission
of these bodies to a constant solar force which develops
throughout their  molecular  constitution  such  palpable
repulsive  energies, and which, regarded as attraction  or
attraction of gravitation, could not effect such contrary
results, and which appeared to proceed as an exciting influence out of the sun, and to be transfused in some occult way
into comets, or at least to stimulate them into this remarkable repulsive or reactionary state;-the constancy of all
these facts led me, many years since, to suspect that similar




COSMICAL REPULSION.                   139
conditions lmst be reproduced to a greater or less degree,
and inc somne positively demonstrable manner, in all other
bodies revolving in orbits of various eccentricities around the
sun; and unwearied investigations have led me to conclude,
not only that such is the case, but also that the eccentricities
of planetary orbits and of cometary movements are in some
way correlated with and dependent upon the varying density
of the revolving masses; in other words, that the orbit and
path of every body in our system  are determined by the
internal molecular constitution and the chemical conditions of
that body, and by the play of the internal molecular forces of
attraction and repulsion, which respond to similar forces in
the sun, in inverse ratios of distance, as may be seen so
conspicuously and constantly displayed in comets.
To establish a fact of such magnitude, and of so much
importance to physical science, as the existence of constant
molecular movements of a repulsive character throughout
the mass of opaque cosmical bodies, similar to those so
palpably existing in translucent ones, and to demonstrate the
intensity of these movements to be specially dependent upon
conditions of solar distance, seemed at first impossible.  But
perseverance in the only sure method of physical investigation (which method is never to relinquish for a single instcnt
the guidcnce of nature, confident that even a single molecule,
ultimately traced, will lead to its Creator and Lawgiver) has
elaborated phenomenal evidences from the study of our own
globe which have ended in the determination of numerical
results of a very remarkable character, which I believe prove
the existence of physical laws heretofore undiscovered, the
reign of which must be as universal as cosmical nature itself.
In the preceding chapter there was occasion to allude to
those terrestrial phenomena which develop themselves as
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  VWhen profoundly and
ultimately analysed, these phenomena become reducible to so
many simple expressions of an internal and general repulsive
force, which, proceeding from central points of the planet, not
only indicate universal tension of its mass, but also produce




140                FORCE AND NATURE.
positive and constant disruptions of its surface. All these
results are, in several aspects, perfect counterparts of phenomena so generally observable in comets.  The difference in
the physical constitution of these two classes of bodies-the
gaseous-diaphanous and the solid-opaque-really constitutes
the only difference of condition and appearance in reactionary
and eruptive results. These phenomenal evolutions in comets
clearly demonstrate the activities of their molecular forces to
be developed into cosmical amplitudes; and these activities
are so universal as visibly to exhibit evolutions of repulsive
force reaching from the centre to the circumference of the
bodies, and even projected beyond their nuclei: and in this
statement I will specially omit the tails of comets, upon the
physical elements of which scientific opinion may not be
entirely united, in order to avoid all conflict with the speculations of Bessel and with the conjectures of his predecessors
or successors.  When terrestrial phenomena in their entirety
are studied from this point of view, earthquakes and plutonic
eruptions appear to be simple exponents or external indices
of the same internal cosmic reactionary activity or molecular
repulsive energy assuming massive conditions.  Columns of
molten matter charged with heat and light, projected thousands of feet above the general surface of our sphere and
falling back or spreading out upon it, and the same matter
cooling in some places into a solid crust, and then replunging, as in the volcano of Kilauea, and many active
craters, into the plutonic fires beneath, evidently represent,
or, in more exact terms, are analogutes-indeed, the very homologuzes-of the evolutions so visible in the great comets,
which have often startled observers and perplexed thinkers.
The uninterrupted manifestations of earthquakes, and of
plutonic movements of one sort or another, statistical observations upon which are now so numerous and authentic as
to show their frequent simultaneousness in widely separated
areas, and to indicate that, if all could be noted, not a day or
an hour passes during which some locality is not disturbed
by these phenomena, and probably not a moment in which




COSMIICAL REPULSION.                 141
plutonic matter is not impelled against, or into, or through
the  crust;-all these  phenomena, whatever their class,
appearance, condition, or degree of manifestation, are only
so many impulsive movements of the interior matter and
force of the globe upon its exterior.   This is almost the
identical language used by Humboldt to express his idea of
the cause of earthquakes-an old idea, indeed, but enunciated
by this great German scholar in modern scientific terms"the reaction of the interior upon the exterior of our planet."
Although his extensive travels and erudition have added
nothing to our positive knowledge of final causes in this field
of inquiry, this expression precisely defines the mechanism of
internal cosmic repulsive force in developing eruptive phenomena which, in opaque globes, are simple reproductions or
analogues of the eruptive phenomena so evident, definable,
and under favourable circumstances almost measurable in
diaphanous ones.
Mr. Robert Mallet, whose  special studies of seismic
literature, and whose experiments in impulsive physics (if
I may give them  such a name) justly entitle him  to the
highest honours which British physicists can confer, defines
an earthquake to be "the transit of a wave of elastic com"pression in any direction from vertically upzwacds to horizon"tally, i.n any aziamuth, throuzgh the suwface and crust of the
"earth, fromc any centre of impulse, or from? more than one,
"and which? may be attended with tidal and sound waves
"depeendent upon the im2ulse and upon circumistances of posi"tion as to sea and land."  While the definition is similar
to that of Humboldt and the more ancient authorities, it
is enunciated in such exact terms as to delineate all molecular impulses, and be applicable to every action of repulsive
force, whatever their origin or amplitude, in all cosmical
bodies.  Accepting it as the veritable dynamic condition
under which all agitations occur in every class of bodies,
and as the most exact expression of the scientific thought of
our day, we are struck with its equal application, as a phenomenal law, to both comets and planets; and we may further



142                FORCE AND NA7TURE.
more observe that this law is demonstrably applicable to the
internal mechanical processes by which physical violence
is enacted throughout all cosmical spheres, ending in external
disturbances of any sort.
Now, if at times within historic periods the surface of our
planet has been violently agitated over vast areas from foci
of dynamical force, i.e. repulsive centres located at different
points far below the surface, between the surface and centre,
or in the centre itself, it is only a repetition of what we
observe to take place in comets so distinctly as to allow no
error of judgment as to identity of molecular and cosmical
conditions in the two classes of bodies. Besides, there is no
proposition respecting seismical physics,-that is, no delineation of earthquake phenomena taking place under the
physical laws and deductions announced by Mr. Mallet, or
any other author,-which does not represent and graphically
reproduce identity of internal molecular force developing
into cosmical quantities, ending in identity of results, and
producing external cosmical violence equally observable in
both comets and planets. Indeed, not a meteor explodes in
the sky except by internal developments of this same eruptive and repulsive force; nor has a fragment of meteoric
stone or iron ever been found on our planet that is not charged
with hydrogen, the most expansible of known gases, or that
is not marked by the action of the disruptive violence with
which molecular repulsion forced it from its prior cosmical
connexions.  Furthermore, all physical agitations seen, with
the telescope, in comets, are observed or felt to be duplicated
in our own planet throughout its diversified constitutional
structure. Even the miscalled zodiacal light, the terrestrial
auroras, and the remarkable brightenings and darkenings of
cloudless, moonless nights are, as observation is now teaching,
but so many phenomena developed by internal disturbance
of cosmical forces and exhibited exteriorly, as similar ones
are excited in and developed around comets by direct solar
influences, and modified by perihelic distances.
But so far as the earth's crust is observed, its endless




COSMIICAL REPULSION.                  143
varieties of superficial motion witnessed in plutonic phenomena, embracing earthquakes in their entirety, can only be
effected by the most tumultuous and complex expressions of
interior violence, springing in some instances from the centre
of the planet.  The origin and nature of these motions, from
those of a gyratory character, evincing a whirling impress of
the dynamical agent, to those whose vertical or oblique
impact cannot be misunderstood, are evident reproductions,
duplications, or analogues of phenomena so visibly developing
themselves in cometary bodies with intensities dependent,
as before described, upon inverse perihelic distances. While
the former can be appreciated by our several senses, determined by instantaneous convictions, and confirmed by experiments and mathematical computations, the latter are clearly
detected and immediately determined by sight alone.  But
we recognise their identity as positively as if the comet had
a solid crust whereupon we might stand, observe, deduce and
measure degrees of repulsive force by eruptive results.  We
see elements, constituting the planet's interior, not only
thrown out upon its surface from equator to pole, but also
projected with enormous force for miles beyond its central
molten nucleus.  We know these dynamical phenomena to
have been of perpetual recurrence, and to have exhibited a
sort of eternal function in the physical existence of the
planet, so to speak, because geological formations of every
age have been disrupted by igneous dykes.  Seams, fissures,
cleavages, dislocations, tiltings of strata-ten thousand similar
indications of subterranean motion-are observable everywhere, wherever human research may extend, all proving
ceaseless action in the central elements of our globe. All
these data determine limited or local disruptions of the
planet's surface, and denote incessant reaction of its repulsive
interior upon its mineral crust. But the more striking irregularities of hill and valley, mountain ridge and marine gulf,
continental outline and oceanic depression, constituting the
grand and universal features of the earth, not only confirm
the foregoing conclusions, but also afford irrefragable testi



14 4                FORCE ANVD NA'TURE.
mony of still more extensive and revolutionary disturbances,
which could only result from  the profoundest evolutions of
both repulsive and gravitative force; and such evolutions of
energy, indeed, as could only  spring from  excitations of
a central and cosmic character.   So that if we behold
comets disrupted, or their entire mass in tumultuous action,
their superficial areas moved inwards toward the centre by
gravitation, and their central parts forced outwards by repulsion, and portions even separated and projected from  the
main nmass by the latter force, we discover the same phenomena repeated in our own globe, and  only differing in
character or result in  consequence of the dissimilarity in
physical constitution of the two classes of bodies.  But we
discover that the forces effecting these results are identical in
principle and in action, and that both in planets and comets
molecular attraction and molecular repulsion are expressed in
their infinite amplitudes, as central forces, assuming cosmical
functions; and we may safely conclude that the existence of
this state of things in one series of cosmic bodies absolutely
proves its existence in all others.
Indeed, in order to exhaust this point of our discussion,
I will here refer to the entire array of aerolites, whatever
their physical constitution, which have thus far been found
upon the earth.  In considering a subject so grave as this,
while aware of certain theories that these bodies are comets
which have been, are to be, or were to have been, I cannot
entertain them, and it is not my purpose to discuss them.
But, on the contrary, I must adhere to facts, and I am  compelled to say, after careful examinations of large numbers of
these bodies, that every one of them without exception presents
indubitable proofs of having been violently separated from
some larger cosmical mass: and it is self-evident that molecular attraction, attraction of gravitation, cohesive attraction,
or attractive force of any description, could not have caused
such violent disruptions; but that the opposite of attraction,
repulsion alone, must have been the agent engaged to produce
such  degrees of tension  as end in  explosions of celestial




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  145
masses of solid mineral or metallic matter. After our inquiries, then, no name can more appropriately be given to
such a central force than that of COSMICAL REPULSION.
9.
This extensive series of facts, whose analogy and identity of
origin, character, and result are so manifest-all springing
from the activity of molecular forces expanded into planetary
magnitudes, exhibited in the eruptive and explosive phenomena which take place in bodies of different physical constitutions, and thus grouped in this new and fruitful field of
discussion-must awaken philosophers to the grandest contemplations of cosmic nature, and to more profound and
severe investigations of general laws.
The increasing density of a comet's nucleus as it approaches perihelion, its greatest density and the strongest
excitement of its molecular and central forces at perihelion,
and its diminishing density as it recedes from perihelion,
must sooner or later command the attention which theii
importance and bearing deserve.  Upon these facts hang
"the law  and the prophets" of cosmical physics.  Their
exact values involve no less than these pregnant inductions,
viz. that the increasing contiguity of any revolving body to
the sun is accompanied by an increasing contiguity and
centralization of its constituent molecules; that its minimum
distance from the sun is accompanied by the minimum distance of its individual molecules from each other, and from
its own centre, involving of course the greatest density and
tension of the body; that its elongation is accompanied by
separation of its individual molecules, so that at aphelion
its conditions of density and tension are the reverse, and
always less than at perihelion. This is a simple statement of
what all classes of observations exhibit and suggest. The
general densities of planets, so far as determined by the
L




146                FORCE AND NATURE.
ablest astronomers, appear to diminish in the order of their
heliocentric arrangement. In this respect there is a correspondence with the internal changes observable in comets
which even come from  beyond the outmost boundaries of
the solar system, and make their perihelic circuit within the
orbit of Mercury. Molecular attraction throughout all those
displays of its functions which constitute the cohesion, density, and sphericity, that is to say, the creation and continued
existence of all these bodies, seems to hold special relations
to the length of their radii vectores; in other words, to
the general forces of gravitation and repulsion which maintain them at constantly fluctuating distances from the sun,
whatever their elementary constitution, whether simple or
compound, gaseous or opaque.  All appear to bear similar
relations to the solar centre that a balloon full of hydrogen,
or of common air, bears to its proximity to the earth's
centre. All know that if a bladder of common air be transported from  the surface of the earth to the summit of a
lofty mountain, the density of the gaseous contents will
diminish, and the particles separate from each other to such
an extent as to burst the vessel. The same process of molecular repulsion and  expansion  appears to be developed
throughout the mass of planets and comets, in direct ratios
to their distances from  the sun.
Now, since our planet revolves in an elliptical orbit, with
the sun in one of its foci, so as to present at aphelion and
perihelion a difference of three millions of miles in the length
of the radius vector, it becomes manifest that molecular
movements must be unremitting throughout the globe, and
that its density can never for a single instant be uniform,
from its central atom to its outermost gaseous limits. While
its tension-that is to say, its super-saturation with the forces
of molecular attraction and molecular repulsion-is positive
and persistent, and so vast as to originate and develop the
terrestrial phenomena of light, heat, electricity, magnetism,
organization, eruptive motion, &c., we know that this tension
fluctuates in degree from solstice to solstice. The evidences




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  147
of these changes are so numerous, whatever may be their
theoretical explanations, that we need only mention tidal,
magnetic, and meteorological observations to show that the
intensities of phenomena vary with every point of the planet's
orbit.  Whether these changes are all directly or indirectly
connected with and dependent upon molecular motion in the
planet's constituent elements, superinduced by solar excitations, is a question which further observations will determine,
and which will be more fully developed hereafter.
There is, however, an important class of phenomena next
to be considered, the numerical elements of which, in connexion with final causes, are now for the first time presented
in their broadest and most definable aspects. Seismic, that
is to say, earthquake and volcanic, action-the dynamical
expressions of which, whatever their degree, form, or extent,
all directly depend upon aggregated molecular movements-is
so universal and profound as to be truly cosmical, and must
no longer be regarded as "strictly local" or accidental in
its phenomenal aspects. Its analogy to the general internal
and eruptive agitation, so manifest in comets at perihelion,
clothes it with peculiar interest; and it thus becomes elevated into a subject of unexpected importance. It is beyond,
question that the density, internal tension, and eruptive
action of comets increase with their contiguity to the sun.
The sun appears in some way to superinduce increasing
attractions and increasing repulsions within their individual
molecules, ending in positive augmentations of density in
these bodies and of intensities in central reactions proportionate to the operation of the general law  of gravitation
exerted upon their masses and modifying their mechanical
motion in space. These individual molecular excitements, or
fluctuating central and decentral expressions of energy (a
simzlation of inductions, absorptions, and expulsions of varying amounts of force), these molecular increments of excitation, or local translations of force, appear to resolve themselves
into each other, and to coalesce and become a unit, upon
the principles which have been enunciated and illustrated in
L2




148                FORCE AND NATURE.
preceding chapters. Thus centralizing by their own inherent
power of coalescing, they assume cosmical proportions, functions, and values in direct ratios to the sums, or physical
nature, of the molecules constituting these spheres. As the
two forces, whose functions are always antagonistic, react upon
each other, they manifest their character and energies by the
motions of atoms; and it is through this explanation that we
may comprehend the physical phenomena in comets the
analogues of which are repeated in our own globe by the
appalling molecular disturbance so demonstrable in every
class of plutonic agitations and disruptions, and in every
display of subterranean dynamics.  The identity of these
cosmical conditions and of their results is so manifest, and
so abundantly sustained by facts and reasoning, as to require
no further treatment or illustration. Nevertheless, if it can
be conclusively shown that the tension of our planet, like
that of comets, is augmented at perihelion, not only will solid
evidence be presented of our correct analysis of the remarkable phenomena superinduced in distant worlds at their perihelia, but new proofs will also be added in support of the
philosophy herein set forth, that all cosmical nature is
influenced and absolutely governed by the action of another
great force, beside gravitation-its equal and co-ordinate
throughout the universe-that of COSMICAL REPULSION.
10.
Disruptions of any body, spherical or otherwise, large or
small, in consequence of force excited, arising, or augmented
within its own boundaries, manifestly prove tension. If the internal dynamic conditions be the constant, external dependent
phenomena will be correspondingly so, all things being equal.
Observation shows the earth to be, and to have been through
geological time, constantly subject to eruptive action. Hence
it is, and has been, in a condition of constant dynamical




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  149
tension; and I have already shown this to be the result of
molecular repulsion aggregated into a cosmical force, and
have equally demonstrated its analogy and identity with that
so manifestly excited in comets during the perihelic relations
into which solar attraction draws them. The earth moves
towards the sun in obedience to the same attraction.  Not
only, however, is this force exerted in such a manner in
conjunction with an opposing one, as to define the earth's
path and periodic motions within measurable and known
limits, but it so fluctuates in degree with this opposing force
as to develop an elliptical orbit with the sun in one of its foci,
and to permit or create, among other phenomena, a difference
of 3,000,000 miles in the length of the radii vectores at the
aphelic and perihelic points of this orbit. Now, if facts and
numbers show that eruptive phenomena are uniformly more
frequent during the planet's greater proximity to the sunthat is to say, in the perihelic arc of its orbit, than in the
aphelic arc —and that they maintain general inverse numerical
ratios to the length of the radius vector, it will follow that
the sun exerts the same control over the fluctuating molecular forces within our planet that it does over the tension
and eruptive phenomena of comets.
It is only of late years that special attention has been
devoted to seismic phenomena in order to bring them within
the range of severe scientific discussion.
M. Alexis Perrey, Professor of Natural Philosophy at
Dijon, conceiving that a molten nucleus must ebb and flow
within the earth's crust, in like manner and upon the same
theory that ocean tides rise and fall, devoted much time,
labour, and expense to collecting data; and has published
extensive catalogues of earthquakes and plutonic eruptions,
including dates in detail, where he could find them recorded.
Encouraged by remarkable numerical results, and sustained
by the illustrious Arago, his labours have been persistent,
of great value, and in the right direction. He assumed that
earthquakes and volcanic eruptions must, like marine tides,
be results of lunar attraction; and by discussing all his




150               FORCE AND NATURE.
observations, he found that these phenomena are more frequent near the moon's perigee than  apogee, and more
frequent at the syzygies than at the quadratures.
These facts are positive sequences of numerical discussions;
and it will be immediately perceived that, as far as the simple
conclusions extend, they sustain the principle which I have
announced, that internal molecular agitation and eruptive
or repulsive phenomena are increased in proportion to the
proximity of the heavenly bodies to each other. It is this
point, simrply and alone, which I desire to present in this
connexion; and its weight is greater, and its importance
the more suggestive, since it is derived from the labours of
a distinguished authority in support of a theory which
future discovery will most probably modify.
11.
A critical glance at the "lunar theory," when brought into
comparison with the facts observable in the internal reactions
of the celestial masses, may deprive the former of the value
which physicists have commonly attached to it from Newton's
time to our own. A plain statement of the "Theory of the
Tides "-which is only a plain statement of the law of universal
gravitation, as expressed by the Newtonian philosophy-is, that
the moon's attraction upon the earth is two and a half times
greater than the sun's; that the moon and sun, when in the
meridian or otherwise, draw the water immediately under
them  away from the solid globe with these proportional
degrees of force, and at the same time draw the solid globe
away from the ocean on the opposite side, so as to make two
simultaneous swellings of the sea, or four, as it may be; and
that these solar and lunar attractions act, in the strictest
manner, inversely as the squares of the distances from the
sun and moon of each separate molecule upon and in the
planet. On this hypothesis, the molten nucleus of the globe,




COSM[ICAL REPULSION.                 151
not subject to atmospheric perturbations like the ocean, would
swell gently and gradually against and around the interior of
the crust, and would be drawn with gradually diminishing
attractive forces in a similar manner from the remotest sides.
It must be remembered that, in the prevailing theory, there
is no other force at work than attraction; and that molecules
as units, not the centres of planetary bodies, are acted upon
with constantly diminishing strength according to the squares
of their respective distances.  The double elliptical tidal
waves of the nucleus, produced by the dissident positions of
the sun and moon, would, upon the Newtonian theory, ever
be regular and tranquil in their movements, and would unite,
during conjunctions, under the influence of less degrees of
force than are at the same time drawing the crust away from
the internal molten matter.
Thus it will be perceived that while Professor Perrey's
seismical statistics augment and reach their maximum with
the meridian positions of the sun and moon, and diminish
and reach their minimum  at apogees and quadratures, they
disprove the very theory to prove which they have been
collected, or at least they eliminate themselves from it, since
earthquakes are frequent in longitudes which should, upon the
theory of the tides, be wholly free from plutonic pressure or
any dynamical action at the moment these phenomena occur.
But when Professor Perrey's numerical discussions are regarded in the light of this new  philosophy which I am
endeavouring to unfold, they fall with wonderful precision
into natural order, under laws which appear to be universal
and which embrace all physical anomalies throughout the
planet.
The energies of gravitation, viewed as a dynamic entity, act
directly and effectively FROM the centre of every sphere UPON
the centre of every other sphere, inversely as the squares of
the distances of these centres, and not upon the nearest
circumferential particle first and strongest, and so on less
and less strongly upon  each successive particle, straight
through a sphere, as is assumed in the theory of the tides. But




152                FORCE AND NATURE.
the actual mechanical effect of solar gravitation as seen displayed in the diaphanous spheres of comets, is first to excite
attractive power in the centre, so that every molecule shall
be drawn from the circumference, and so on successively, toward
this focus, at the same time that the body as a constituent of
the system is drawn towards the sun. The resultant of such
action must naturally be reaction; and, so far as our own
planet may be influenced by these conditions, all phenomenal
and periodical movements of fluids, whether within or without
the crust, must be subjects of reactionary, that is to say
repulsive, and not of direct attractive, force.  If matter and
force be everywhere united upon the same principles, physical
changes must also be everywhere the same, and the periodic
synchronisms of correlated phenomena must self-evidently be
traceable to the same causes. One of these general causes
we know to be attraction; and since Newton has also proved
that " action and re-action are always equal and contrary," it
follows that the reactionary principle can be no other than a
positive force of repulsion. When voluminous combinations
of molecules depend upon the sun for sphericity and motion
-that is to say, for their physical existence, as comets and
planets suspended around it-or upon the earth, as seen
in bodies of gas and vapour suspended around the latter
-the action of attraction and repulsion upon and within
these masses is observed to be similar where their physical
constitutions permit measurable fluctuations of density. For
instance, if a bag of any size were filled with common air at
the base of Chimborazo, and then transported to the level
of the sea, the volume of this mass of molecules would
diminish, and its density would be increased. When transferred back again, it would expand so as to fill the vessel.
When transported to the mountain's summit, it would expand
still more, and the molecules would separate from each other
with so much dynamical energy as to burst it.  All these
changes of volume and density are expressions of molecular attraction and repulsion, which proceed from circumference to centre, and vice versd. To say that these changes of




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  153
volume and density result from simple differences of atmospheric pressure is only an indefinite and incomplete explanation of phenomena whose causative conditions lie in more
profound directions. That these changes spring from absolute
spontaneous developments of attraction or repulsion existent
and latent in all molecules, or from their inherent capacity to
draw and imbibe instantly fresh and enormous increments of
analogous force from cosmic sources, may be proved by many
striking illustrations. Phenomena explicable in this way are
not unfrequent where repulsion is so instantly developed in
the atmosphere near the level of the sea, that the windows
or sides of houses will instantly burst outwards, and entire
fabrics be made wrecks.  Active repulsion in such storms
has suddenly supervened in surrounding space, in consequence of some profound telluric condition  not hitherto
recognised or understood; and the response of the repulsive force, existing as a lively, energetic principle in the
atmospheric molecules within the edifice, being as instantaneously sensitive, inductive, accumulative, and motive as
the attractive principle, is so quickly manifested, and accumulates its energies so instantly from the great telluric
reservoir, that intervening obstacles fly in various directions, and even beams are burst open as with gunpowder, in
order that the equilibrium of the repulsive and gravitative
forces, as cosmic powers and quantities, may be re-established.
Every change of the barometer is but an influx and efflux of
these same ultimate forces, which, in grander developments,
produce eruptions, dilatations, and disruptions of comets, and
in our own planet earthquakes and volcanoes. That all this
category of facts and observations are resolvable into cosmical,
and not local phenomena, and that all, furthermore, depend
upon solar causations whose secret influences act with energy
inversely proportioned to the length of the radius vector, may
be demonstrated, since the maximum  oscillations of the
pendulum and the maximum  ranges and oscillations of the
barometer-all disturbing elements being eliminated-occur
at perihelion, and the contrary at aphelion. Observations also




154               FORCE AND NATURE.
upon tides show the same periodic connexion of distant
cosmical forces with the forces of every movable molecule
on our planet; and when the endless forms and expressions
of seismic phenomena are observed to arrange themselves
into similar periodicity, it may be questioned whether gravitation does not so act upon and within our planet as to
reduce all dynamical phenomena to reactionary conditions,
and correlate them with repulsive agencies; and whether these
phenomena may not be subject to laws of repulsion which are
as capable of numerical determination as those of gravitation.
That exact observation is as certain a means of reaching
scientific truth as experimentation, there can be no doubt:
and when extended observations upon cosmic phenomena
lead to the discovery of general principles which experiments
and the mathematics coincide in confirming, physicists would
do equally wrong to reject either one or the other.
By the study of comets and of our own globe, we do
not discover solar gravitation to act in such a manner as
directly, and at first, to draw or attract their nearest molecules most strongly, and so on successively, away from their
centres and remotest sides, thereby making constant ellipsoids
whose major axes are persistently directed to the sun, or, as
in the case of lunar gravitation and lunar tides, to the moon,
when in the meridian.  On the contrary, we observe gravitation, as a solar force, so to act upon them as to increase
the gravitation of their individual molecules toward marked
centres, creating rotundity, not ellipticity; and simultaneously
exciting them  into excessive tension and active states of
repulsion-reaction and eruption being subsequent, and also
in direct numerical ratios with their proximity to the sun.
Solar attraction is observed to act upon the sphere as a
whole or unit, drawing it by established values; while its
individual molecules are excited into more intensely attractive states and concurrently fall toward its centre. And
inasmuch as dynamical phenomena are developed as local
and periodic manifestations, subsequent in time and fact to
meridian positions of sun and moon, thus presenting them



COSMICGL REPULSION.                  155
selves as indirect rather than direct results of solar or lunar
attraction, and being consequently reactionary in character,
they conclusively demonstrate the internal activity and universal display of cosmical repulsion in all revolving bodies
whose orbits are elliptical, and whose controlling forces are
in one of the foci of these orbits.
The physical facts here presented cannot be set aside as of
no importance to philosophy.  On the contrary, their importance is such that they bear upon every branch of physics,
and I cannot doubt they must hereafter profoundly modify
the directions of theoretical and solid research.
When the development of seismic phenomena in their
greatest activity and intensity is found to result from the
action of forces identical with those at work in comets to
produce their greatest eruptive displays, and when  this
maximum obtains at perihelion in like manner, as observed
in comets, we certainly have reason for inferring that gravitation, as a solar force, acts upon all cosmical masses in a
similar manner, and excites their constituent molecules into
similar states of attraction and repulsion, centralization and
reaction, condensation and eruption.
Such being the causation and the modus operanci of the
agencies within the earth's crust which produce earthquakes
and volcanoes, or, as the illustrious Alexander von Humboldt
calls them, "the reaction of the interior upon the exterior of
the planet," it will be observed that these phenomena cannot
be explained, as the indefatigable philosopher M. Alexis
Perrey has endeavoured to explain them, upon the "Newtonian
theory" of tidal waves in a molten nucleus. And it may be
authoritatively questioned in view of the preceding critical
glance at, and comparison of, theory and facts, whether the
so-called "theory of the tides" does not require profound
modifications in its application to oceanic movements, since
the severest analysis of the immortal Laplace failed to bring
tidal phenomena within mathematical requirements, and my
own personal observations upon tidal waves at Tahiti, and
upon the coast of Peru from 3~ to 14~ south latitude, include




156                FORCE AND NATURE.
amazing anomalies which no applications of the calculus have
thus far succeeded in bringing within the lunar hypothesis as
at present taught.
12.
The facts collated and discussed by M. Perrey, however,
and the numerical results at which he has arrived, are, beyond
question, of the utmost value. That they may be presented
with full candour and receive their greatest weight, I shall
so enlarge upon his labours as to cite the concluding passages
of a "Report" made to the French Academy of Sciences,
June 12th, 1854, by a special commission upon two of M.
Perrey's memoirs, which he had communicated to that body;
the first entitled: " On the Connexion which may exist' between the Occurrence of Earthquakes and the Moon's
" Age;" the second: " On the Occurrence of Earthquakes in
" connexion with the Moon's passing over the Meridian."
"The apparent result from this " (the preceding analysis of
M. Perrey's Memoirs) "is, that the difference between the
" unequal attraction exercised by the moon at her greatest
" and nearest distance has a sensible influence over the
" occurrence of earthquakes.  In the note on the'Occurrence
"of Earthquakes in connexion with the Passing of the Moon
"over the Meridian,' which he presented to the Academy
" January 2d, 1854, M. Alexis Perrey discusses the question
"whether the division of the shocks of earthquake during a
"lunar day is, like the tides, connected with the passage of
"the moon over the superior and the inferior meridian.  For
"this method of investigation, he could only avail himself of
"824 shocks felt at Arequipa, which are registered with day
"and hour in the above-mentioned table of M. de Castelnau.
"By means of proportional calculations, which must have
"occupied considerable time, he has calculated to which
"hour after the passage of the moon over the meridian each
of these shocks corresponds. He thus formed a first table




COSMICAL REPULSION.                157
"(which he afterwards changed by dividing it into sixteen
equal portions grouped, side by side, to form eighths) containing the 24 hours 50 minutes and a half, of which a
"lunar day generally consists.
"By these two methods (notwithstanding some marked
"anomalies which could not but exist in so limited a number
"of facts as 824), the results obtained in both arrangements
"manifest the existence, in the length of a lunar day, of two
"periods of maximum for the occurrence of shocks, and two
of minimum. The two periods of maximum occur at the' hours of the passing of the moon over the superior and
" inferior meridians; and the periods of minimum fall about
"the middle of the intervals.
"M. Alexis Perrey has thus succeeded, by the simple
" analysis of catalogues which he had previously drawn up,
" in proving by three different and independent methods the
"influence which the moon possesses in the production of
"earthquakes.
" st. That earthquakes occur more frequently at the
" syzygies.
"2d. That their frequency increases at the perigee, and
"diminishes at the apogee of the moon.
"3d. That the shocks of earthquakes are more frequent
"when the moon is near the meridian, than when she is
" 90~ away from it.
" But the numerical tables from which these three proposi" tions are derived, present some anomalies; and the author
"has omitted nothing in endeavouring to account for them,
and to prove the law  which is revealed at their first
"inspection....
"By means of the formula thus obtained" (which the
Commission  have here interpolated and which I omit),
"the author was enabled to draw up numerical tables, corre"sponding to those deduced from  observation alone, and
"in which the law of the phenomena appears disconnected
"from the principal anomalies which tended to obscure it in
"the first tables. The numbers contained in these new tables




158                FORCE AND NATURE.
" are carefully arranged, and form regular curved lines, in
"which the law is clearly manifest. These curves have a
"marked resemblance to each other, although they are not
"entirely alike-which  could not be, for they are only
"approximative-and each bears the stamp of the group of
"figures which it represents.  The resemblance of these
"curves is essentially increased by the fact that each presents
"two principal maxima corresponding to the syzygies, and
"two principal minima corresponding to the quadratures.
" We are thus brought back to the conclusion so evident by
" M. A. Perrey's toil-that, for half a century, earthquakes
"have been more frequent at the syzygies than at the
"quadratures.
"The Academy fully conceives of the importance of this
" conclusion, and appreciates the labour the author has taken
"to collect nearly 7,000 observations on the first half of this
"century. This number, however, is very small for the solu" tion of a question of this nature; and it is very desirable
" to have it increased, either by collecting all future observa"tions from year to year, or by going back to past centuries,
" as the author has commenced doing."
While M. Perrey was busy in France collecting facts, and
elaborating his theory and discussions with such commendable assiduity, encouraged by Arago and the French Academy,
another indefatigable physicist was occupied in Great Britain,,
under the special authority  and auspices of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, in studying
seismic phenomena from  a wholly different point of view,
and in classifying or'tabulating data without reference to
lunar or other cosmical causation. The labours of Mr. Robert
Mallet have been intended to embrace this subject in its
entire ranges both in fact and literature, and to treat it, moreover, critically and exhaustively in its telluric and dynamical
aspects; and they are not the less valuable for having been
prosecuted independently of speculations upon final causes.
As his elaborate "Reports " to the British Association embrace also candid expositions of Professor Perrey's tables




COSMJICILI REPULSION.              159
and conclusions, as well as his own numerical summaries, I
have availed myself of the statistical data presented by both,
in order more strongly to support the conclusions drawn from
the physical aspects of comets, and the deductions to which
molecular physics developed into the widest ranges has inevitably brought us in our study of such periodic phenomena.
In order to present these numbers in the most exact and
definite manner, I shall here introduce M. Perrey's tables
embracing his monthly summaries of earthquakes, transferring them from Mr. Mallet's Report to the British Association
for the Advancement of Science, made in September 1858,
and I shall append to these tables Mr. Mallet's own mensual
classification of 6,102 of these phenomena, reported in the
same communication. Thus exhibited, the invaluable labours
of these investigators will draw the attention of astronomers
and physicists to the main point of our discussion. And
here I may be permitted to say that an important law of
periodicity was deduced by me some years since from  an
analysis of earthquake phenomena, as they had been observed
and collated by myself, independently of their labours and
without the knowledge of their pursuits or catalogues. I
then announced what accumulating facts steadily confirm,
viz. that the intensity of internal telluric agitations-similar
to those which exist in comets in the perihelic arc of their
path, and ending in disruptions of surface-is, as a general
law, dependent more or less upon the planet's proximity to
the sun; and that these phenomena hold certain numerical
relations to the length of the radius vector.
The tables of M. Perrey are so numerous and lengthy, that
I have condensed some and omitted others of no special
bearing upon our subject, his immense toil having been based
upon a special hypothesis, which, like all simple speculations,
however suggestive or temporarily useful, must ultimately
vanish like vapour before the sunshine of truth. In reference
to the accuracy of these tables, it is proper for me to remark
that I have noted no errors which affect the general conclusions which may be drawn from their totals.




160                   FORCE AND NATURE.
"TABLE I.
" Earthquakes of Scandinavian Peninsula and Iceland.
A.D.              110                 1                   1 
12th 
to      16   9  10   6   9   4   9   5   8   7   8  11
18th 
19th..   17  11  11   7   7   6   8   8  10  10  11   6
Totals.   33  20  21  13  16  10  17  13  18  17  19  17
Winter.       Spring.      Summer.       Autumn.
74           39            48            53"
In connexion with the preceding table, Mr. Mallet makes
the  following  commentary:-" On  examining  this  table,
"M. Perrey remarks the same preponderance of earthquakes
" in the winter half of the year, that is evident from  many of
"his other calculations for various regions. Here, for the' six months of winter, there are (including some other facts)
"127 shocks, and but 87 for the summer half of the year.
" The total number of earthquakes given with dates is 252.
"Representing by 12 the mean annual number, he tabulates
"the proportional number for each month, thus:
"TABLE II.
" Scandinavia. Relative Frequency through the Year.
-  k.      i,.   e       i    E    1  
185 112 1'18 0-75 0'900  0- 95 075 101 0'95 1'06 0'95    12
Winter.        Spring.       Summer.        Autumn.
1'38           0-73          0'90           0-99




COSMICZL REPULSION.                       161
"At the two months of each solstice and equinox" March and April....... 0'94
"June and July (Aphelion).           0 74
"September and October....    0'95
"December and January (Perihelion). 1 36."
The interpolation of the words Aphelion and Perihelion
is here made by myself, in order to call special attention to
these  periods, because  nothing  in  connexion  with  these
elements was in the minds or theories of either M. Perrey or
Mr. Mallet, during the discussion of these tables.
"TABLE IV.' Earthquakes of the British Islands and Northern Isles.
Century.    ^.        I    ~   1  
A.D. D 
11th 
to       12   7   9   9   8   4   4   8  12   9  11  15
18th )
19th..    9   9  10   7   8   6   5  11  12   8  11  12
Totals.   21  16  19  16  16  10   9  19  24  17  22  27
Winter.       Spring.      Summer.        Autumn.
56           42             52           66"
Mr. Mallet here remarks:-"The number occurring  in
"spring and summer together is but three-fourths that of
"autumn and winter united, the relative number for the four
"seasons beingWinter.......... 1'03
"Spring.0. 0'76
"Summer.......... 0'96
"Autumn.........    1-24
M




162                    FORCE AND NATURE.
" and the two months of the critical epochs (as M. Perrey
" characterises the solstices and equinoxes)" Winter solstice (Perihelion)... 1-28
"Spring equinox....... 0'96
" Summer solstice (Aphelion)... 0'53
"Autumnal equinox....               1'13
"TABLE VI.
"Earthquakes of the Spanish Peninsula.
Century.S  
A.D.     g   I1
n    C
11th          _
to        15    9   10    1    5    8    8   11    3 12   15    9
19th.    10    5    6    7    4    6  10    5    9   11    7    5
Totals.   25   14   16   18    9   14   18   16  12  23  22   14
55             41             46             59
"Taking  the  mean  monthly frequency  -- 1, the  relative
"monthly frequency, and that according  to season, are as' follows:1-49 0-84 0-95 1-07 0-54 084 1-07 0-95 0-71 1-37 1-31 0-84
Winter.         Spring.         Summer.         Autumn.
1'09            0'82            0'91             1'17




COSMICAL REPULSIOIV.                       16 3
"Or in autumn and winter together, 114 earthquakes against
"87 in the spring and summer.
"TABLE VII.
"Earthquakes of France, Belgium, and Holland.
Century.   ~' l - -I'
A.       II. D                                  )            __D  
18th. 8) 
19th.  27  1721  1313   8  15  17  15  17  21   25
Totals.  83  6453  55  42  36  47  40  50  48  60  791
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.        Autumn."
200           133            137           187
"and for two months at each critical period of the year" December and January.. Winter solstice.. 161 (Perihelion)
" June and July.... Summer solstice. 83 (Aphelion)
" March and April.... Spring equinox.   108
" September and October., Autumnal equinox. 98."
The earth is (as a general statement) in perihelion on the
1st of January, and in aphelion  on the 1st of July.   The
remarkable differences in number of these phenomena at the
perihelic and aphelic extremities of the planet's orbit, must
arrest the attention of even superficial observers, and they palpably present a problem which demands solution upon broader
principles than those embraced in the lunar hypothesis.
M2




164                    FORCE AND NAITURE.
" TABLE VIII.
" Earthquakes of the Basin of the Rhone.
Century.  |..        
A.D.     g   ^                                   ~1
16th )
tto       14    8    8    7    8    9    7    5   13    9    6  10
18th
19th.    12   12    8    3    3    2    2    4    6    6    8   14
Totals.   26  20    16   10   11  11    9    9   19   15   14  24
Winter.        Spring.       Summer.         Autumn.
62             32             37             53
"presenting considerable similarity to the results for France
"as a whole.
"The  following  are  the  proportional numbers  for  the
"months1-69 1-31   1-06 f0-66 0-71 0-71 0-591 0-59 1-24 0-98 0-92 1-57
" or for -
"Winter.........      1 35
"Spring..........   0'69
" Summer.........    0'81' Autumn....1...     1-16




COSMICAL REP ULSION.                        16 5
"and for the two months each of" Winter solstice (Perihelion)... 153
" Spring equinox...... 081
" Summer solstice (Aphelion)... 0'61
"Autumnal equinox......              105
" TABLE IX.
"4 Earthquakes of the Basin of the Rhine and Switzerland.
Century.          I  s.                                           S 
A.. _ I. _.
9th   )
to       47  37  31  25  25  24  23  19  26  19  34  46
18th  )
19th.   15  17  13  12  11   6  12  11  10  17  24  25
Totals.   62  54  44  37  36  30  35  30  36  36  58  71
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.        Autumln.
160           103            101            165
"The autumn and winter together here present a number
"having nearly the same ratio to that of spring and summer
"together, as 3  2.
"And at the critical periods of the year, of two months
"each, we have" Winter solstice (Perihelion).... 133
"Spring equinox.......  81
" Summer solstice (Aphelion)....   65
"Autumnal equinox.....    72




166                   FORCE AND NATURE.
"TABLE X.
"Earthquakes of the Basin of the Danube.
Century......     
A.D.                                                        
5th   )
18th  3  17  16   5   8  13  11  10  14   5   7   8  14
18th
19th.  14  15   9   8  12   8  16  11  11  16  10  12
Totals.  31  31  14  16  25  19  26  25  1623  18  26
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.       Autumn.
76            60            67             67' The relative numbers are for"Winter solstice (Perihelion).. 133
" Vernal equinox......    070
" Summer solstice (Aphelion).. 105
" Autumnal equinox.... 0'91
" TABLE XI.
"Earthquakes of the Italian Peninsula, with Sicily, Sardinia, and Malta.
to        64  606049  48  6230  41  40  51  42  48
19th..   37  39  38  35  32  24  33  36  23  41  22  29
Totals.  101  99  98  84  80  86  63  77  63  92  64  77
I.
CeWint       er         Spring.       Sumer.         utumn
4th298                       250           203           233
to        6460 60 49 48 62 30 41 40 51 42 48
19th..    37  39  38  35  32  24  33  36  23  41  22  29
Totals.   101 99  98  84  80  86  63  77  63  92  64  77
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.       Autumn.
298           250           203            233
I~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~.                              _I       i




COSMIOAL REPULSIONV.                    16 7
"M. Perrey having obtained access to the work of Mura-' tori and other documents, produced a supplement to this
"Memoir, the result of which he has given in
"SUPPLEMENTAL TABLE XII.
"Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, and Malta.
century.                                 4j.  ~    
"togthe   18   8  13  15  12  11  10  15  15  12   9  12
61           64            62           51
i In the first of these, the winter and spring earthquakes
together are to the  summer and autumn together as 6: 5.
" In the supplemental table alone, however, the winter
" season has lost its preponderance, and autumn shows the
" smallest number.
"TIhe number in  winter  and  autumn  together, however,
still slightly exceeds that for  spring a  nd summer, in the
"ratio of 9: 8.
"While this shows the usual doubtfulness of generaliza"tions from partial data, the result rather tends to awaken
"increased attention to the very prevalent excess of seismic
"action in the winter half-year, shown by so many catalogues,
"and here sustained, though by a supplement, that, taken
" alone, somewhat departs from the principle.




168                    FORCE AND NATURRE
"TABLE XIII.
Earthquakes of Algeria and Northern Africa.
2    6    7    3    2    2    5    1    4    8    1
Winter.        Spring.        Summ er.       Autumn.
"6 TABLE XIV.
" Earthquakes of the Turco-Hellenic Territory, Syria, the /Egean Islands,
and Levant.
A.D.                                              C) $|-i*A
18h      18   15   15  20   21  20  21   18  26 17  21  19
19th.   22  20   16   10   16  15   14  22   14   17  12   14
Totals.   40  35  31  30  37  35  35  40  40  34   33   33
Winter.        Spring.        Summer.        Autumn.
106            102            115            100




COSMIC4 L REPULSION.                       169
For the four critical periods of the year he finds" Winter solstice (Perihelion).... 73
" Spring equinox........61
" Summer solstice (Aphelion)...  70
"Autumnal equinox....... 74
"TABLE XV.
" Earthquakes of the United States and Canada.
Century.   i  
17th 
and      10  10   9   3   3   4   6   8   5   8  12  12
18th
19th        4      4   3   3   3...  4   6   3   2   7   5
Totals.   14  14  12          6   4  1014   8  10  19  17
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.       Autumn.
40            16            32             46
" Here the number of earthquakes in autumn and winter
"are to those of summer and spring as 88 to 49, or nearly
"as 2 to 1; and for Perrey's critical periods" Winter solstice (Perihelion)... 31
"Spring equinox........18
" Summer solstice (Aphelion).. 14
"Autumnal equinox....... 18
"Perrey wholly disputes the verity of Humboldt's conclu"sion (Cosmos, t. i. p. 519, trad. p. M. FAYE), that earthquakes
"are most frequent at the equinoxes, and declares that the
"results of all his memoirs prove the contrary.




1 70                    FORCE AND NATURE.
" TABLE XVI.
" Earthquakes of Mexico and Central America.
Century.     W               S. _.
A.D.                                              -4g i.    1
16th
to        3    5    8    5    6     5    4    2    44        3    3
19th  J
Winter.        Spring.        Summer.        Autumn.
"TABLE XVII.
" Earthquakes of the Antilles.
Century.    i    I...,  
An.                            _.0             _.
16th
to         6    8    4    5    4    6   11    7 10   10    5    3
18th
19th.    9    8   19   12  12  10    9   16  12  10   13   12
Totals.   15   16  23   17   16  16  20  23  22   20   18   15
Winter.        Spring.        Summer.        Autumn.
54             49             65             53




COSMICzL REPULSION.                    1 71
"Contrary to the result usual for Europe, the number of
" shocks in summer here seems to preponderate; and in the' critical periods we have" Winter solstice.......   30
"Spring equinox.....             40
" Summer solstice........ 36
"Autumnal equinox....... 42' Or, for autumn and winter together, 108; spring and summer,
114; —a result equally contrary to what has been found so
"uniformly for Europe, and to the prevalent belief of the
inhabitants of the Islands themselves, who deem  the equinoxes the dangerous times.
" Representing by unity the mean degree of frequency, and
"by twelve the whole number of earthquakes given with
" date of month, we find for each month  the following
proportional number:
_I I....    I..  = 
Winter. Spring.            Summer.       Autumn.
0'98          0'89'1.8           0-96
"The last of Perrey's monographic memoirs is that on Chili
" and La Plata..
"The following table contains his numerical results, for a
"region, however, in which shocks of greater or less intensity
are almost of daily occurrence:




172                  IFORCE 2AND NA4TURE
" TABLE XIX.
Earthquakes of Chili and the Basin of La Plata.
Century.  C' s 
A..D.    0                                    0 M      0
16th
to       1    2   2...  2    1...   1...   1.    1
18th )
19th.   14  1014   8  19  11  16  15  16   9  27   8
Totals.   15  12  16   8  21  12  16  16  1   10  27   9
Winter.      Spring.      Sulnmer.      Autumn.
43           41            48           46
".. M. Lambert, mining engineer of Chili, in a memoir
"on the causes of earthquakes in Chili and Peru (Ann. de
" Chim. et de Phys. t. xii. pp. 392-405), published in 1829,
"mentions that the Chilians vulgarly divide their year into
"three seasons or'temporadas,' and that one of these, the
"first, composed of January, February, March, and April, is
"called'temporada de los temblores,' or earthquake season.
"On comparing the facts of his catalogue with the popular
"belief, however, Perrey finds the facts palpably contradict it."
It will be apparent to all familiar with earthquake phenomena in Chili that the above table is very limited in data,
and that no reliable conclusion upon the general laws of
periodicity can be drawn from it.
" Finally," continues Mr. Mallet, "we come to the last
" two  of Perrey's memoirs which have been referred to" those in which he has brought under one view  many of
" the facts of his monographs, and graphically discussed the
"results in tables for all Europe, with the adjacent parts of
"Africa and of Asia, and for the north of Europe with the




CO0SMI4CL REPULSION.                                          173
"north of Asia, viewed as one great boreal band. The results
"of the former are given in the following table:~
" TABLE XX.
" Resume of the Earthquakes of Europe, and of the adjacent parts of Asia and
of Africa, fr'om  A.D. 306 to 1843.
Earthquakes with date of day or month.                  Date of
season only.
2    o   ~  ~   6   ~         
Century.          Cd                                             j           6
A.D.     0t                                             0    0 "               0
4th.                                                   1.............  2   3   1   12   21*
5th      1               3...     2    1..                 2...2. 3...    11  25
6th.....       2    2    1    2    1    2i  3    2    3       1              1..     31
7th.........  I...  I...   2...........,.......  6     10
8th      2    2                1    1.................   I1...     3       11
9th      4    2... I       1    1              2    2...   6        5       1     10      36
10th      I...I.........             1    2    1    1     1...     8       17
lth       1    4    5    1    2            1    2    2  3    3     3     1...    19       51
12th      8    2    2    3    3    2... 3    3...   1    4           3..     34       68
13th      3    2    3    1    5.....    1...    2    5        4...    27       55
14th            1    3...   3    4    3    2    4     3    4    4     2       2     22       58
15th...   1          1    2    2    2    2    1    2    2    7...     1     17       41
16th     10    5    6    8/10    4    2    3    9 13    6 10              3...    31      110
17th     2116   15   13    6    9   10    3   14    3   10 1/7            1      1     41      180
18th     77  53   45   52  36  49  49   49 32162   55 62    14                   4     21      660
19th     99 100  90 359355  55   74   78   72192  360 78                  6      1       6     925
Totals  228 189 172 147 126 131 148 147 147 176 148 202    48                    11    279   2,299*
* An accidental  error
Winter.        Spring.        Summer.        Autumn.   of 1             eai
of I in the addition of
the first line of this Table
does not affect the gene589            404            442             526        ral result set forth in it.
"Autumn  and winter still preponderate thus for entire
"Europe.  As regards the'critical periods' of the year, the
"results areFor 19th For the whole
century.      period.
" Winter solstice (Perihelion)                            177         253
" Spring equinox........   151                                170
" Summer solstice (Aphelion).                           129          150
"Autumnal equinox.......   164                                  159
" And for the half year, and nineteenth century only" Autumn   and Winter......  527
"Spring and Summer.....   34




174                   FOR CE AND NA TURE.
" And  for the  whole period of nearly fifteen  and a  half
" centuries"Autumn and Winter...  1,165
"Spring and Summer..   857
"or about as 1: 075.
" TABLE XXI.
"Earthquakes of the Northern Zone of Europe.
Century.. i                                     o        
A.D.                                                       
8th
to       15  13   5   6   7   3   3   8   6   4   6   7
18th
19th.   12   5   4   5   6   3   2   4   2   9   7   6
Totals.   27  18   9  11  13   6   5  12   8  13  13  13
Winter.       Spring.       Summer.        Autumn.
54            30             25            39
"TABLE XXII.
"Earthquakes of.the Northern Zone of Asia.
Century.    I   I.                        I ~    o.
A.D.          7             x3     /      "                 s
18th,    3   6   2   1   1...   1   2    2   2   1   3
19th      4   6   6   4   4   3   5   7   6   3   4   5
Totals.    7  12   8   5   5   3   6   9   8   5   5   8
W inter.      Spring.       Summer.        Autumn.
27            13             23            18




COSMICAL REP ULSION.                                        17 5
"TABLE XXIII.
"Earthquakes of the Northern Zone of Europe and of Asia together.
~...
Century.,.                               8     l _
A.D..                                        e    1
8th                                                        _
to           34    30    17    16    19         9    11    21    16    18    18    21
19th
Winter.             Spring.            Summer.             Autumn.
81                 44                  48                  57
"TABLE XXIV.
" General Result as to Mensual Relative Frequency of Earthquakes.
Regions.                   1.    L 
8!
Europe (the whole).,  135  1'11  1 07  095  0'85  081  087  0-95  0'89  1 02  0-93  1-21
France and Belgium.  1'52  1'17  0 97  101 0           077  066  0'86  0-73  0 91  0 88  1-09  1-43
Italy and Savoy..     1       11 3 1  127  1'05  0'96  0'96  0.94  0-94  0 76  1-13  0'76  0-94
Basin of the Rhone.  169  1'31  1-06  0'66  0'71  0'71  0'59  0'59  1-24  0 98  0 92  1,57
Basin of the Danube.  1'38  1'38  062  0 71  1111  084  1'16  1'11  071  1102  0580  1-16
Scandinavia....  185  1-12  1 18  0-75  0'90  0'56  0'95  0'73  1'01  0-95  1-06  0-95 
Europe, Northern Zone 2-19  146  0-73  0 89  1,05  0'49  0.43  0-98  066  105  1            1'05 
Asia, Northern Zone.  104  1'78  1 19  0'74  0'74  0-44  0'89  1'33  1-19  04    74  1191
Both Zones, united  1. 78  1-57  0-89  0-84  0'94  0-47  0-58  1-10  0-84  0-94  0-94  1-10 
"TABLE XXV.
" Result as to Relative Frequency in Season.
Regions.                  Winter.        Spring.      Summer.    Autumnm.
Europe (the whole)..               118           087          0'90           1-05
France and Belgium..                  122           0-81         0-83          1'13
Italy and Savoy...               119           0'99         0'88          0'94
Basin of the Rhone..                135           0'69         0-81           1-16
Basin of the Danube..                 113           0'89         0'99    0' 99
Scandinavia....          138          0'73          0'90          0'99
Europe, Northern Zone.                 149           0'81          0-69          1'05
Asia, Northern Zone..                133           0'67          1'13         0'89
Both Zones, united..               141           0'75          0'84         0'99




176                  FORCE AND NAATURE.
"TABLE XXVI.
" Results as to Relative Frequency at the Equinoxes and Solstices.
Reion.            Winter    Spring    Summer  Autumnal
region..   oSolstice.  Equinox.  Solstice.  Equinox.
Europe (the whole).  125            0.99      0 82      0'93
France and Belgium          1'43      0'96      0-73     087
Italy and Savoy.          1'02      1'13      0'93      0'92
Basin of the Rhone.        153       0'81      0'61      105
Basin of the Danube.        1'33      0-70      105       0'91
Scandinavia....36                    094       074       095
Europe, Northern Zone       174       0-87      0-48      0-91
Asia, Northern Zone.        1 20      1'04      0'72      1-04
Both Zones, united..     148       0'96      0-58     098
Perihelion          Aphelion
"There remains to be noticed of M. Perrey's labours his
" discussions of the periodicity of the earthquakes of his
" annual catalogues for 1844, 1845, 1846, and  1847, with
" reference to the phases of the moon's motions....
"The result he arrives at, as respects these four years, is
" that the number of earthquakes occurring at the Perigees
" (when the tides -are highest and lowest) are to those occur" ring at the Apogees as 47: 39-a conclusion which, inde" pendently of the assumptions by which it is arrived at,
" must be as yet accepted with  caution upon so narrow a
" base of induction, although possessing more than enough
" probability, from physical considerations, to induce further
" inquiry."
To the preceding tables Mr. Mallet has added the discussion of Mr. David Milne's catalogues of Scottish and English
earthquakes, the numerical results of which are compared
with M. Perrey's, and comprised as follows:



COSMICAL REPULSION.                        177
"TABLE XXVII.
Scotland. England.' January..        14       11" February.... 14          13  74 Winter.
" March....    12             10)
" April....    9              10"
"May....  8                 4  44 Spring.
"une...      4        9
"July....           5        5
I August.... 12           9  58 Summer.
" September... 12          15)
" October..         14       11
" November.         20       12 1   79 Autumn.
"December.... 15             7
139      116."
It will be observed that during the four months in which
our planet was passing through the perihelic arc of its orbit
there occurred 106 earthquakes, while during the four months
in which it was most remote from  the sun there occurred
only 56.
Mr. Mallet also introduces in juxtaposition with M. Perrey's
summary of the earthquakes of the Antilles, in which a preponderance appears at the summer rather than at the winter
solstice, the statistical results of M. Poey's labours upon the
earthquakes of Cuba, in which it will be observed the contrary appears, sustaining the general law of greatest plutonic
intensity with smallest heliocentric distances.
These results are embraced in the following table, wherefrom it will be perceived that the numbers recorded for the
four aphelic and four perihelic months stand relatively as
14 to 21, thus presenting one-third more for the former than
the latter period, a proportion coinciding remarkably with the
great majority of our tabular summaries.
N




178                  FORCE AND NA4TURE.
"TABLE XXVIII.
"Earthquakes at Cuba.
Century.   1      _._                 S
A.D.                                              S 
4z'     UQ-~    o   Z 
16th /
to...  4......................
toh..   4.
18th)
19th.    4   3   2   3   3   4   5   2   6 5   6   4
Totals.    4   7   2         3   4   5   2   6   5   6   4
Winter.       Spring.      Summer.       Autumn.
13           10            13            15"
Notwithstanding the inevitable direction of these discussions toward the discovery of solar causation, it is proper to
state here that neither Professor Perrey nor Mr. Mallet, the
two most accomplished investigators of seismic phenomena
who have yet lived, recognised in any of their labours and
statistics the law which I assert to exist at the foundation of
every department of cosmical physics; and I shall so far cite
Mr. Mallet's Report, made in 1858, to the British Association
for the Advancement of Science, as to place the statement
and the development of the subject beyond all question to
future students.
"If it ultimately prove a fact," he says, "that there be a
"real relation in epoch between earthquakes and the ocean
"tides, or the moon's and sun's position in respect to the
"earth, the phenomena will probably be found in relation
only through  the intervention  of changes in  terrestrial
temperature, or in the great circulations upon or within
our planet, of its electrical or magnetic or thermic currents,




COSLiICIAL REP ULSION.               179
" or the conversion of these into each other reciprocally, and
" not to the direct action of the variable attractive forces of
"our primary and our satellite.  To some such conversion of
"force into heat, developed at local foci, it would appear
"much more probable that all volcanic phenomena are due,
"than to a universal ocean of incandescent and molten lava,
"beneath our feet, with a thin crust of solid matter covering
"it, the present or historical existence of which is not only
"not proven, but for which no argument of weighty proba" bility has been, as I conceive, advanced.
"In the present state of our knowledge of the obscure
"relations between the internal mass and actions of our
"planet with the cosmical forces that act upon it both within
"our own atmosphere and from the abysses of space beyond,
"and our comparative ignorance even of the terrestrial phe"nomena themselves, no speculation, however hazardous or
"hardy, that is based upon a natural hypothesis, need be
"regretted; such views in the beginning of every separate
"road of inductive science are eminently suggestive, and,
"although in themselves false, may point towards truth.  It
"is only in this aspect that a memoir by Dr. C. F. Winslow,
"M.D.,'On the Causes of Tides, Earthquakes, Rising of
" Continents, and Variations of Magnetic Force,' requires
"notice.  The communication appears to have been made
"to the Academy of Sciences of San Francisco, California,
"by the author, in 1854 or 1855.  I have met with it only
"through a printed copy, for which I believe I am indebted
"to the author."
Thus says Mr. Mallet in the course of his able and exhaustive Reports upon the entire literature and physics of
seismic phenomena, wholly rejecting M. Perrey's opinions,
admitting my Memoir of 1854 to be "eminently suggestive,"
and presenting no definite view of his own to explain facts
which appear from closest annual observations to depend as
certainly upon solar causation as do the annual variations of
intensity of magnetic force.
But as my object is to present here facts derivable from
N2




180                  FORCE,ND NATURE.
seismic studies, in order specially to prove the existence and
action  of a force, the  dynamical functions of which  are
developed and intensified both in comets and in our own
globe, in virtue of the reign of a cosmic law of action and
reaction proportionate to distances inverse; that is to say, of a
force which develops intensities of internal mechanical effects
that increase and decrease directly as these bodies approach
and recede from the sun. Such being my object, I will confine
myself to numerical data, and add such remarks only as are
necessary to bind these facts with the principles which have
been heretofore, or which may be subsequently, unfolded.
Mr. Mallet has prosecuted these studies in various ways,
and has arrived at his numerical and final results by laborious
discussions of catalogues, tables, and curves for both the
northern  and  southern  hemispheres, embracing the entire
planet, as far as data  could be  collected, or observation
extended from the earliest records to the year 1851.
"The total number of earthquakes, classed by months, is
"as follows:lNorthern.'Southern.  Seasons,  Seasons,
Northern-.'
North.    South.
January...       627        19
February...       539        14
March....           503         9     1669        42
April....          489        17
May....        438        20
June....            428        19     1355        56
July.....        415        18
August.              488        12
September...       463        17     1366        47
October...     516        25
November...        473        32
December...        500        21     1489        78
Totals....    5879           223     5879       223




COSMICAL REPULSION.                     181
" Total of catalogue for both hemispheres capable of mensual
classification................    6102
" Total of unclassed, except as to annual date.......   670
"Total number catalogued........  6772
"of which there are recorded by season only"  Spring...........      6'  Summer...........   7
" Autumn........... 7
"  W inter...........   5
Total.........25
"January, February, and March have been taken for the
" spring of the Northern Hemisphere, and for the Southern,
" July, August, and September."
Thus it will be perceived that Mr. Mallet, in the classification of seismic phenomena presented in his Reports to the
British Association, strictly confined his observations, and the
direction of his opinions, to "seasons" of local or periodic
heat and cold; overlooking profound cosmical causes, hesitating to interrogate  the mobile  conditions of a plastic
globe, constituted of manifold chemical elements, revolving
eccentrically  around  another mass of chemical elements,
1,200,000 as large and 300,000 times as heavy; and never for
a moment recognising the grand fundamental fact that molecular attraction and molecular repulsion must inevitably
develop themselves into cosmical amplitudes, and exert positive mechanical and reactionary effects upon the planet's
crust, with intensities always varying inversely, as a general
law, as the length  of the radius vector subtending  their
respective centres undergoes variation.
The final result of all Mr. Mallet's discussions which bear
upon the point in  question, is included in the following
paragraphs:
"In Fig. 5, Plate X. a curve has been obtained for the
"whole period of the catalogue, and for both hemispheres,
"representing graphically all recorded earthquakes occurring
"near or at the equinoxes and solstices (the critical epochs of




1 82                PFORCE AND NATURE.
" Perrey and others), within a limit of twenty days, i.e. ten
" days before and ten days after each equinox and solstice.
" The base of induction is moderately large, the catalogue
"containing the following numbers:" Vernal equinox (March 10-30)..310
" Summer solstice (June 1 —July 1). 254 (Aphelic).
" Autumnal equinox (Sept. 13-Oct. 3). 249
" Winter solstice (Dec. 11-31)... 318 (Perihelic).
"This we may call the equinoctial and solstitial curve
"of comparative seismic energy.   It indicates a distinct
"maximum about the winter solstice, and an equally distinct' minimum rather before the autumnal equinox.  Taking the
"average of the whole year for any lengthened period, it' may admit of much doubt whether there is a real seismic
"paroxysm  at the equinoxes and solstices, although a clear
" preponderance is shown by our catalogues at two out of the
"four annual epochs at which all are recorded; yet from the
accordance of Perrey's results with those given by this' much larger base of induction, we cannot put aside the
"possibility that the fact may have a cosmical basis.
"The most direct connexion in such case that we should
"expect to find with other ascertained periodical phenomena
" would be with the annual march of the barometer.  In
"Fig. 4, Plate X. the  annual curves of mean  mensual
"barometric pressure are laid down to the same scale of
"ordinate for time as the equinoctial and solstitial seismic
"curve below  (Fig. 5), giving the variation in atmospheric
"pressure for places in several and distant latitudes, Macao,
"Havanna, Calcutta, Benares; and in Europe, Halle, St.
Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, and Strasburg; the curves them-' selves having been reduced from those of MIM. Buch, Dove,
" and K.aemtz.
"On comparing these barometric curves with the seismic
one, an obvious similarity addresses the eye....
"An earthquake in a non-volcanic region may, in fact, be
" viewed as an uncompleted effort to establish a volcano.




COSMICO4L REPULSION.                 183
"The forces of explosion and impulse are the same in both;
"they differ only in degree of energy, or in the varying sorts
and degrees of resistance opposed to them.  There is more' than a mere vaguely admitted connexion between them,' as heretofore commonly acknowledged-one so vague that
"the earthquake has been often stated to be the cause of
"the volcano (Johnston,'Phys. Atlas,' Geology, p. 21), and
"more commonly the volcano the cause of the earthquake;
neither view being the expression of the truth of nature.
"They are not in the relation to each other of cause and
"effect; but are both unequal manifestations of a common
"force under different conditions."
13.
Such are the theoretical views and the numerical bases
upon which seismic phenomena have been discussed in recent
times.  The numerical results have been attained with scientific precision, and exhaustively treated upon data collected
from earliest records down to 1851 by rigorous physicists of
France and Great Britain, stimulated and encouraged by the
most learned bodies of these enlightened realms. Embracing
these with the entire labours of the German physicists also,
in their speculative efforts to reach final causes, it may be
safely stated that the opinions of Aristotle, based upon
earliest observations, the details of which have been lost
for ages, were more extended and probably more accurately
directed than any which appear in the writings of modern
scholars.  And this is the more remarkable, because the
numerical studies to which I have alluded have persistently
pointed to solar causation.  More than two thousand years
ago the immortal Aristotle recorded the fact-now repeated
by M. Perrey, and considered probable by Mr. Mallet-that
earthquakes often happen at lunar eclipses. He further stated
that the greatest number of these phenomena occur in the




18 4              FOR CE AND N TURE.
night (an important fact to which I shall have occasion to
refer hereafter, and point out its bearing upon celestial mechanics); and what is very remarkable, that the sun in some
way influences the earth to produce earthquakes; and that
the force which produces them (whatever it may be, for it is
difficult to understand what the ancient Greek philosophers
meant by "exhalations," "winds," "spirit," &c.-their idea
of motive or impulsive power within the bowels of the
planets) " received an impulse from  the path of the sun."
Crude, hypothetical, and imperfect as these ideas may appear,
nothing more definite has been expressed by M. Perrey, and
nothing at all explanatory of interior telluric phenomena
has been attempted by Mr. Mallet, notwithstanding the
constant indications of all their tabular results. The weight
and bearing of their facts, discussions, inductions, and conclusions demand, however, the serious consideration of astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians.  So authoritatively
sustained and so highly respected have been the investigations of these indefatigable collectors, that the numerical
results at which they have arrived may be declared unquestionably as worthy of acceptance and credit as bases of
physical induction, as the discussions of  Gauss, Sabine,
Schwabe, or Bache, in  other departments of numerical
observation.
14.
Up to this point I have not specially alluded to my own
investigations in this wide and pregnant field of seismic
philosophy. Mr. Mallet honoured my cosmical views in his
last "Report to the British Association," with the brief
critical notice which has been already quoted. Appended to
the Memoir therein alluded to, were the following note and
table:
" Of 232 earthquakes and volcanic phenomena recorded by
myself as they have occurred from  time to time within




COSIICA4L REPULSION1                 185
" three years, in different parts of the globe, and which have
"been collected from  different sources of anterior dates
" taken at random, the numbers for each month show remark"ably strong evidence in favour of this theory; and they are
"so extraordinary as to stimulate the most active inquiry
"into this department of the physics of the solar system.
"The statistics copied from my memorandum are as appended:
"as the notes of the phenomena were made without any
"reference to favouring or discouraging the hypothesis of
molecular repulsion as an earthquake force, the facts afford
" almost conclusive proof of the theory."
e  
3         18  15 
142!           90
Perihelic Numbers.       Aphelie Numnbers.
This Memoir concisely developed the theory of cosmical
repulsion which is here amplified; and it was intended to
confirm  the data and inferences which I had previously
published.
As early as 1843 and 1844 my attention was specially
drawn toward earthquake and volcanic phenomena and to
their cosmographical bearing, in consequence of explorations
of volcanic islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans,
and of inductions derived from my own observations upon the
general outlines of the planet's surface.  The names of the
French and British savans whose labours so largely enrich the
preceding pages, did not become known to me until years
afterwards. And it is not wholly devoid of interest that so
searching an analysis of the same class of phenomena should
have been initiated, at nearly the same time, by three persons




186                1FORCE AND NATURE.
so widely separated, who conducted investigations from such
different points of view. But that which invests this circumstance with much importance is the identity of numerical
results attained by all, and the influence this fact must exert
upon the future developments of this branch of physics.
My own records and discussions of plutonic phenomena
have been brought down to the close of the year 1866. They
embrace many authentic and well-marked periods of eruptive
activity. Events and time reduced to numbers as exactly as
the character and variety of such data permit, must correctly
represent the relative dynamic strength or activity of the
reactionary force "of the interior upon the exterior" of
the entire planet; and they exhibit a periodicity in the
movements  of this repulsive  energy, conspicuously  and
constantly, but inversely, dependent upon the length of the
radius vector, as a general law.   By equalizing apparent differences of intensity as far as this can be done, giving
unreservedly the fullest weight to the aphelic period, and
reducing innumerable or rapid and prolonged series of local
concussions to limited quantities, so as to represent facts and
days by units, the result of the complete discussion exhibits
an aggregate of 11,872 facts distributed as follows: for
sS
I                                  I)  CI
1,328  1,172    934    935    807    942    798    823    8 70    966  1,060  1,237
For the six months during which the earth is most remote
from the sun, there stand 5,175 against 6,697 during the six
months of nearest proximity of these two bodies, thus presenting a difference of 1,522 in favour of the perihelic arc.
For the two months immediately preceding and succeeding
the aphelion passage, they present 3,370 against 4,797 for the
corresponding perihelion period, exhibiting a difference of
1,427 in the same direction.  For one month before and




COSMICZlL REPULSION.                   187
after aphelion there stand 1,740 against 2,565 for the same
time before and after perihelion, exhibiting a difference of
825, the ratios of difference constantly increasing as these
points are approached and passed by our planet in its annual
revolutions.
Now, if the tables of Professor Perrey and Mr. Mallet be
re-examined, the same general monthly and periodical results
will be found to exist.  That such remarkable coincidences
of numerical data as these different series of facts expose are
a mere accident, is beyond the range of probability.   On
the contrary, they all significantly point to the prevalence
of some occult law, and evince the existence of a general
cosmical agency, whose action -upon the moleculcr forces of the
heavenly bodies, from  their centres to their circunmference, is
dependent upon, or at least coincident with, the ellipticity of
the orbits in which they revolve around each other.
Professor Perrey, connecting his facts and numbers with
time, discussed them  as results of lunar causation, limiting
solar action to a secondary rank, and this of a simple
attractive character only, in conjunction with the " Theory of
the Tides."  In his latest disquisition upon this subject, however, solar influence receives more attention than appears in
his earliest memoirs.
Mr. Mallet, discovering the same relative numerical difference of facts in connexion with time, yet discarded every
condition of cosmical causation; and, ascribing all classes of
seismic phenomena to changes of temperature, and the possible conversion of electrical, magnetic, and thermal currents
into each other in local foci, classed them  by simple therral
seasons, as is clearly shown by special references to the
seasons of the northern and southern hemispheres.
In my discussions of plutonic and seismic phenomena, I
reject all considerations of a theoretical character, and all
arbitrary divisions of astronomical time, except as an element
in numerical determinations.  The names of the months, in
my treatment of the subject, are only used, and must be considered, as simple terms in the problem, representing definite




188 F8ORCE AND NA'URE.
arcs of an ellipse, along which our planet, as a plastic mass of
molecules, moves, in performing its revolutions around the
sun; and the numbers, as simple representations of varying
intensities of dynamical force, exerted from the centre of the
planet upon its exterior, in like manner as similar movements are seen in comets, when in proximity to the sun.
As to the local foci of volcanic or seismic activity, spoken
of by Mr. Mallet, Sir Charles Lyell, and other scholars, who
reject the view of Leibnitz, that the earth possesses a molten
and fluid nucleus, they may, and probably do, exist. But the
conditions are wholly reconcilable.  Immense caverns and
empty canals under all mountain ranges, are not only probable as consequences of geological changes, as I have shown
in my discourses upon the "Dynamics of Geology," and in
my memoir upon "Volcanoes," read before the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, at Albany, in
1856; but subterranean thunderings, the eruptive phenomena
exhibited by some volcanoes, and the abundant materials
accumulated  over many volcanic  regions, prove beyond
question the existence of immense and profound hollow
spaces and channels of communication from one to another,
all of which must be immediately filled with the atmosphere,
or with mineral gases and sublimates, when the molten
matter of the nucleus recedes toward the centre of the planet,
after its radial dynamic impulses have subsided.  When
the eternally fluctuating pulsations of the molten nucleus
burst anew, either with spasmodic or with prolonged ejective currents, into these hollow spaces, or "local foci," after
longer or shorter periods of repose-during which periods
air, water, gases, and vapour have mixed with dust and
pumice, thus granulating slag and tufa into sand and powder,
producing mud or ashes, and preparing the caverns for new
thunderings, or terrific combinations of eruptive conditions
-then follow physical events, whose inconceivably vast attendant conditions demand the development of dynamic
energy, which the entire heart of the planet, excited into
fullest tension of repulsive force, can alone impart.




COSMICAL REPULSION..                 189
It is not my design, however, to dilate in these connexions
upon this important, interesting, and diversified branch of
terrestrial physics. Extensive explorations, nevertheless, of
our globe, close observation of various volcanic regions, personal experience of many earthquakes in Mexico, Peru, and
Ecuador, together with observations of the volcanoes of Fogo,
Kilauea, Isalco, Massaya, and Cotopaxi in greater or less
degrees of eruptive action, and of scores of extinct volcanic
mountains and smaller craters, have fully convinced me of
the truth of what I say.
There is, however, more evidence to be adduced upon the
relative differences of seismic and plutonic intensity in the
aphelic and perihelic arcs of the earth's orbit; and notwithstanding these discussions tend  to enlarge the fields of
geology, I can but indulge the hope that the cultivators of
that science will turn their attention to this subject and so
extend their inquiries and speculations as to lift all similar
facts above novelty and doubt.
Von Tschudi ascertained while in Peru, as a general result
of experience  and  observation, that an excess of earthquakes occurred in that country in November, December, and
January of each year.
It was stated many years since, as a well-observed fact, that
in Chili earthquakes are more frequent from October to March
than at the other period of the year. The table presented by
Professor Perrey seeming to contradict popular observation
and opinion upon this point, I have reduced the facts in my
own catalogues to a tabulated form, and give them with this
single comment, that if the entire number of earthquake
shocks which have been hourly and momentarily noted in
Chili, at certain epochs of violent and prolonged " reaction of
the interior" upon that region of the South American continent, were taken into account, the proportion from November
to April would be much greater than appears.  Thus it may
be declared as established beyond further question that popular
opinion in Chili upon this subject is correct; and it will be
seen that the facts arrange themselves into the same numerical




190                 FORCE AND NAT'URE.
and natural order so observable and remarkable for other
regions and for the entire planet.
The whole number of 546 facts are distributed as follow
forr    0                            1.    I 
I  I   i   ^ -               9; I   +-  I   I
78  47  44  40  44  30  26  17  32  62  64  62
Winter.     Spring.      Summer.      Autumn.
169         114           75          188
the perihelic period exhibiting 357 against 189, or nearly
as 2:1.
I find the same notable circumstance to exist at Hawaii,
where the great plutonic outlet of Kilauea, being continually
open, probably acts in such a manner as to modify considerably the expression and intensity of the seismic phenomena
felt upon the Island.  Nevertheless, in tabulating a complete and valuable catalogue, which has been kept with
very commendable care from June 1833 to May 31, 1867a period of thirty-four years —by Mrs. Sarah J. Lyman, one
of the resident missionaries of the American Board, and which
has been kindly furnished to me by that worthy lady, it
appears that of the whole number of 173 shocks, distributed
through the different months of this long epoch, 45 more
occurred during the perihelic than the aphelic ones-presenting the proportion of more than 3 to 2. By reducing the data
where, at one period, circumstances prevented their hourly
record, and where, for certain days, an interpolation reads,
"there were several shocks each day and night; "-reducing
this irregularity to a fair ratio (indeed, to the smallest) by
substituting the number two for the number "several," the
summaries of the Hawaiian catalogue are as follow:



COSMICAL REPULSION.                  191
li l t.  im,.. i l
cv 
7  10  17  11   7  10  1810   8  11  36  28
34          28          36           75
Perihelic Arc.     Aphelic Arc.      Perihelic Arc.
And it may be here observed, that the great variety of
monthly numbers with different ratios appearing in seismic
tables, are only the more natural, since all the phenomena
under discussion spring from pulsating and irregular perturbations of its molecular forces, as our planet rotates and
revolves along an orbit the arcs and axes of which are never
for two successive instants the same, governed and influenced
as they are by the exhaustless action and reaction of correlated and more voluminous forces, located in one of the foci
of this path.
At Petropaulaski, Kamtschatka (a region subject to earthquakes), similar observations have been made. An intelligent
observer, Mr. John W. Widdifield, of New York City, who
resided there for a considerable period, has informed me that
it is a fact well known to the inhabitants, and confirmed
by his own observations, that these phenomena occur in
greater numbers in the winter than in the summer; and he
further stated that a volcano in sight of his residence was
more active during the winter than summer months.
A French gentleman, M. Victor Provost, who resided two
years in, and travelled much upon, the Isle of Bourbon, nearly
the antipode of the last-named locality, became familiar with
the phenomena of its famous volcano.  He stated it to be the
common observation of the inhabitants, and of his own
knowledge, that eruptions were annual and periodical, and
that the lava generally flowed with more than ordinary force
in December and January.




192               FORCE AND NATUPR E.
Dolamieu, Hamilton, and Scrope, names well known to
science, long ago stated on the authority of the inhabitants of
the Lipari Islands, that the eruptions of Stromboli were far
more violent during " the winter seasons than in summer."
By careful and extensive inquiries into the observations
of natives and foreign residents, during a fortnight spent in
Acapulco, Mexico, in 1853, I discovered that a similar preponderance of earthquakes, both as to number and violence,
prevailed there also from October to February.
During my journey through the Cordilleras of the Ecuadorean Andes in 1864, I learned, by constant inquiries between
Loja and Quito, that the volcano of Sangai, which exhibits
unceasing activity, displays the greatest violence from December to March. This is the common observation of the white
people and Indians of the regions within a hundred miles of
this most terrible of present active volcanoes.
During my residence in Munich in 1866, Doctor Hermann
Schlagintweit (the last now living of the three intrepid and
accomplished young brothers who recently explored the
Himalayas under the auspices of the British East India
Company, upon the recommendation of the illustrious Von
Humboldt) kindly contributed to me from  the proof sheets
of his great work on " High Asia" the following fact, which
sustains the already abundant evidence upon this important
physical question, to which I have long invoked the attention
of geologists and astronomers.
" Earthquakes are frequent in Assam chiefly in November,
" December, and January, when I, too, had occasion to observe
"several shocks along the right bank of the Bramaputra.
"Also in the meteorological registers I found them regularly
"noted." (Vol. iv. p. 167.)
Dr. Schlagintweit informed me that these results were
obtained from the records he found in Assam.
The same excess of seismic phenomena for the perihelion
period-or what is commonly called the autumn and winter
months-has been observed in California since the settlement
of that part of the American continent. For the purpose of




COSMIICAL RREP ULSION.                19 3
establishing the truth of this common opinion, I will append
the monthly summaries of earthquake shocks as I find them
noted in my records for the entire State.
Winter.        Spring.     Summer.       Autumn.
In the wole number of 186 there appear 124 for the
Winter.      Spring.     Summer.       Autumn.
64           26           36           60
ri   eriheld c.o 62 for the aplic, o    r exactly 2 to 1.  But
In the whole number of 186 there appear 124 for the
perihelic period to 62 for the aphelic, or exactly 2 to 1. But
the points nearest aphelion and perihelion present differences
still more striking and remarkable.
15.
Thus it will be seen from all the numbers, facts, and statements which precede, that the activity of eruptive force in our
globe is, as in comets, greater in the perihelic points of its orbit,
than in the opposite points.
Any single statement in this enormous mass of evidence,
whether presented by Professor Perrey, Mr. Mallet, or the
writer, would be entitled to no weight upon a physical question of so much importance to the future developments of
general science. But the results of the researches of all three,
thrown together upon this inquiry, become very striking;
and I think they cannot fail to excite attention even among
o




194                FOR CE AND NAiURE.
the most strenuous advocates of the prevailing system  of
celestial mechanics. Indeed, they must convince physicists
that there is no such principle or condition in the constitution or in the motions of a planet, or of the universe, as a vis
inertice; but, on the contrary, that all molecules throughout
revolving globes are points charged with positive repulsion
and attraction which unite into planetary units; and that
these latter act and react dynamically to and from the centres
of cosmic bodies, and to and from the centres of revolving
systems, intensifying as globes approach each other, diminishing as they separate, and always so acting as to guide their
movements, shape their orbits, and originate the mechanical
and numerical elements involved in their elongations and
in their approximations to any focus whatsoever.
The internal action and re-action of cosmic bodies mutually
affect, as we shall more clearly see hereafter, the superficial
disturbances and the general and relative external motions
and perturbations of one another; and these actions and
re-actions are dependent upon the reciprocal influences of
one upon the other, from  centre to circumference, and vice
versa, in the course of their translations through space.  This
is a plain statement of a general law.
Upon these points no further evidence, arguments, or
illustrations need be offered in this connexion.
16..
In order that the facts and principles already laid down and
proved in relation to the functions and forces of molecules,
and in relation to their cosmical developments in comets and
the earth, may be seen to have universal expansion, I will
briefly allude to phenomena of a kindred character, which are,
conspicuously displayed in other planetary and in stellar
bodies.
The eccentricities of the orbits of the-Asteroids are known
to be as various as these bodies are numerous and remark



COSjICAL REP ULSION.                 195
able; and their perihelion and aphelion distances are equally
different and striking. Now, while comparatively little or
nothing is known of the physical constitution of these bodies,
it is a singular and suggestive fact, that (as in comets) the
intensity and hues of their light are different, constantly
vacillating, and  even  undergoing hourly  or momentary
changes; that the magnitudes of some of them have been
observed to undergo  unmistakeable transitions; that.the
atmospheres of some are dense and definable, of others diffuse,
extensive, and nebulous; that some have no appreciable
atmosphere, nor a sign of nebulosity; that some undergo
such intense and sudden changes in the appearances of their
discs as to lead to the belief that they are not always
round: and observations upon these planetoids have been
so carefully and accurately made as to convince telescopists that their modifications of physical aspect can neither
be attributed to changes of distance from the earth or sun,
nor to atmospherical perturbations.  No astronomers who
have made special observations upon these bodies, agree even.
approximately on the measurements of those the longest
known among them.  Herschel declares the diameter of
Pallas, for instance, to be 135 miles; Schroeter, 2,295 miles;.
and Lanont, 738 miles.  Allowing for instrumental defects,
micrometric errors, and for inaccuracies, accidents, and imperfections of every sort; yet, considering the fact that with
the best instruments the same observer never finds the.
asteroids to present precisely the same aspects under themost favourable atmospheric conditions, the strongest reasons
exist to conclude that their molecular constitutions are of the
most elastic, sensitive, and heterogeneous character. Measurements of the oldest and largest of these bodies have been
often attempted, both in respect to their solid discs and the
extent of their envelopes.. With such scrutiny, indeed, have
these observations been made that Schroeter determined
the atmosphere of Ceres to be 668 miles high, and that of
Pallas not less than 465 miles at certain epochs. The differences of opinion upon the appearances and magnitudes of
o 2




196                FORCE AND NiVALURE.
these bodies, indicate with certainty the fluctuating character
of their physical aspects; and we may safely infer that the
various action and re-reaction of their constituent molecules
and internal forces are the causes of these external changes.
I am aware that some of these statements do not coincide
with the calculations and conclusions of Mr. Stone, the
eminent Assistant Astronomer of the Greenwich Observatory, relative to the magnitude of the asteroids. But the
records of Arago and other astronomers, and a special study
of the elements and physical descriptions of these bodies,
individually recorded by them, impress me with the conviction that previous telescopic observations cannot have
been completely inaccurate, and that future ones, acutely
directed to these objects, will only confirm their variable
characteristics, as above generally delineated.
Whatever opinion may be entertained of the origin of the
asteroids-whether they are fragments of one original planet,
or of a planet which had satellites, or bodies eternally separate and numerous as they are now, or portions of a former
nebulous ring-it will be perceived that they must have
always been in some manner influenced and acted upon, as
distinct masses, by a force the opposite of gravitation: for,
in the first two conditions, they must have been rent asunder
and separated by cosmical repulsion, as has been illustrated
by similar divisions of numerous comets; and in the last two
they must have been originally endowed with a cosmic principle repelling union; otherwise ONE solid sphere, composed
of these separate masses, would be rolling between Mars and
Jupiter, in strictest accordance with Bode's remarkable and
pregnant law.
However their creation was accomplished, whether it be
comparatively recent or otherwise, their physical elements and
various molecular constitutions, thus anomalous and eccentric,
compel us, in the light of present knowledge, to classify them,
as an astronomical order, between comets and planets, partaking as they do of the characteristics of both.  Now, since
repulsion has been demonstrated to augment the tension and




COSIJICIL REPULSION.                 197
internal agitation of both these classes of bodies at perihelion,
to intensify the light of,'and even to split, comets, and constantly to strain the earth into reactionary and eruptive
activity with periodic intensities, varying inversely with the
aphelic and perihelic length and sweeps of the radius vector,
we might expect to find kindred phenomena developed in the
asteroids under similar circumstances; that is, we might
expect them to contract and expand like comets, and intensify their light by their own internal molecular commotions.
So far, no special observations have been made upon this
point; and perhaps the small size, great distances, and
transient appearances of these bodies may long preclude
positive knowledge in these particulars. But it is a remarkable fact, and one which demands the closest scrutiny of
telescopic astronomers, that the greater the eccentricity of
the orbits of the asteroids, and the greater the differences in
the lengths of their respective radii vectores, the greater is
the transient variability of their light, and the more their
discs, their atmospheres, and nebulosities, when visible —in a
word, their general molecular conditions and physical aspects
undergo notable modifications.
When the diversified observations which have been recorded in relation to these members of our system  (now
numbering one hundred) are compared with one another, and
closely studied in detail, the points presented in this generalization will appear as striking as those in relation to the
periodical phenomena exhibited by comets and our own
globe to which I have already called attention.
To deny, then, even with our present limited knowledge,
that molecular repulsion, developed into planetary amplitudes, plays its part as a cosmic function in the asteroids, is
to deny what the telescope has revealed to a hundred eyes,
from Piazzi and Olbers down to present observers.




198                FORCE AND NATURE.
17.
Grouping the rest of the planetary system into two natural
orders, embracing the bodies which roll between the sun and
the asteroids in one series, and those exterior to the asteroids
in another, and keeping steadily in view the definite point of
study, we shall not be slow to discover the same principle of
repulsion which has been so fully established as the great
phenomenal agent in the earth and in comets, exercised in all
of them, although variously exhibited.
To say nothing of evidence deducible from  differences
of the specific weights of the interior and exterior planets
(which fact of itself alone is sufficient to indicate, and even,establish, the principle that molecular repulsion is developed
into planetary quantities or functions affecting individually
the densities of the cosmic masses); —to say nothing of this
fact, their variable physical aspects, the eruptive phenomena
noted in some, and the atmospheric perturbations and the
broken or mountainous surfaces of all, indicate that the same
molecular conditions which operate in the earth, reign, as
cosmical causations and powers, throughout the volume of
every one of them: and since all move in elliptical orbits of
different degrees of eccentricity, and since all maintain determined and different aphelion and perihelion distances, it
follows that the law of minimum  and maximum  intensities
of molecular and  cosmic eruptive action established for
comets and the earth must reign also throughout their
various masses. If like causes and conditions did not preexist, it may be safely concluded that like phenomena could
not appear.
The  uncommon  eccentricity  of the orbit of Mercury
renders it a peculiarly interesting object of study from our
present point of view.  That violent and general perturbations of its elastic envelopes occur is well known, since dark
bands suddenly form across its face, obscuring its light, and as




COSMICAL REP ULSION.               19 9
suddenly change or vanish, producing sensible variations of
brightness and sharp and dazzling scintillations.
During the transit of this planet across the sun, in 1799,
several astronomers saw a luminous point upon its dark disc
which they supposed to be a volcano. As this phenomenon
was seen from  different observatories, and with different
telescopes, and especially by Harding, at Lilienthall, whose
acute eye afterwards discovered Juno, it must be considered a
decisive fact in its bearing upon this discussion. Observations upon its cusps, moreover, prove its mountainous and
broken features as rigorously as these features can be shown
in our own satellite.
18.
The hypothesis that all these various appearances and
changes in the atmosphere and body of Mercury are produced
by different degrees of heat and light received from the surface of the sun, will not satisfactorily explain them  when
they are compared with similar phenomena which are constantly occurring in, upon, and around our own planet, and
which we now know do not depend upon simple exposure of
the terrestrial surface to the solar surface. But when the
mind rises to grand generalizations, and comprehends that the
entire series of phenomenal events transpiring in the physical
universe rests upon the simplest plan; that all spring from
the action of one overruling law; that all flow from one incomprehensible central Being, whose ways are eternal and
immutable-whose grasping, quivering arms, for ever stretching
out and drawing back by turns, are nerved by the same invisible and immortal elements as our own, but which, shooting
from the very central atom of the cosmos, strengthen as they
glide and tremble from star to star, spreading asunder and
binding together atoms and worlds alike; that the wonderful
agents of this universal power are the simple molecular




200                FORCE AND NAITURE
activities of repulsion and attraction, developing from zero
into infinite quantities, and assuming isolated cosmic conditions with mutual affinities and antagonisms;-when the
mind embraces this simplicity unfolded into its infinite and
amazing  grandeur, philosophy will have  discovered  the
natural path for a fertile, harmonious, and happy solution of
past and present celestial problems.
The universal ellipticity of the paths in which the heavenly
bodies move, and the other equally wondrous fact that controlling globes never occupy the centre but always one of
the foci of these ellipses-these facts, when studied in the
light of gravitation alone, are involved in utter obscurity;
and such phenomena can never be satisfactorily explained as
long as gravitation is maintained by scientific men to be the
only active force which controls the motions and sustains the
system  of the heavens.  When, however, repulsion also is
considered to be an active principle in celestial dynamics,
possessing powers and functions co-ordinate with, but antagonistic to those of attraction, an explanation is at once
afforded for every puzzling and obscure mechanical problem
in the universe.
As these fundamental forces act and react among molecules, attracting and repelling, drawing them into foci, and
disrupting foci again into ultimate elements or prior conditions, so they act externally and at distances as cosmical
entities, assuming cosmical integrals.  Thus mutually acting
and reacting upon each other as masses and spheres of forces;
suns and planets, satellites, asteroids, and comets (the densities of which, never equal in any two, are fluctuating from
instant to instant in all) are compelled by the influences of
their various chemical conditions to impress special degrees
of eccentricity upon their individual orbits, and institute their
respective elongations and approximations.  This development of our discussion I suppose to contain the essence of
Dana's idea of " pulsating molecular force," an expression
obscure in itself when applied to interstellar space as absolute vacuum containing bodies wholly disunited and widely




COSMiJC.iL REP ULSIOIN.              201
separated from each other; but pregnant with meaning when
cosmic phenomena are demonstrated to result from  everchanging densities in the cosmic spheres, and when these
changes of density are shown to depend upon molecular
forces excited into varying degrees of activity through the
mutual dependence of masses upon each other, as all revolve
in elliptical orbits, and act and react upon each other from
centre to centre, according to the law of inverse distances.
Applying these principles in their widest ranges and bearing upon cosmical physics, it will be discovered that the
molecular conditions of, and the phenomena developed in,
revolving bodies-that is to say, their power and facility of
expansion and contraction, of condensation and eruptionhold definite relations to the ellipticity of their respective
orbits and to the varying length of their radii vectores.
19.
Objections to these propositions, based upon geological
and mechanical theories-for instance, that the earth is composed throughout of augite, granite, or iron-in other words,
that it is solid rock or metal, unyielding, undilating, and
uncontracting; that its condensed and crystalline constitution precludes the possibility of continuous active molecular
movements from centre to surface, and therefore that it is an
individual forceless mass, and can of itself have nothing
whatever to do with its own motions, any more than a boulder
or cannon ball; that it moves in virtue of its vis inertice,
possessing no energies within itself capable of accelerating,
retarding, or modifying its own course and motion; and in
consequence of these assumptions, the conclusion that the
elliptical form of the earth's orbit, and the location of the
sun in one of the foci of this orbit, can have no possible
connexion with or relation to its molecular and chemical




202                FORCE AND NATURE.
conditions, or general physical constitutions;-objections and
conclusions of this character should, I think, dissolve and
vanish before the facts which have been set forth.  By a
diversity of data, I have endeavoured to show  that this
planet is not only not solid throughout, but that its interior
conditions are both fluid and actively mobile and elastic;
that these elastic matters are contained as a boiling, surging
nucleus within a crystallized shell; that this shell is pierced
in many places, and is universally subject to tension, blows,
shocks, fissures, faults, cleavages, and fluctuations of outline,
in consequence of contractions and reactions of its fluid
nucleus; that the number and intensity of these reactionary
blows and eruptive phenomena vary, as periodic fluctuations
of dynamic energy, with inverse distances from  the sun.
Now, inasmuch as these coincidences establish positive connexions between the internal dynamics, or molecular forces,
of the earth, as a cosmical mass, and the length and sweep of
its radius vector, I hold that there ought no longer to be question that the ellipticity of its orbit is determined by the
mutual interaction of physical forces between itself and the
sun; and now, finally, inasmuch as there can be no reaction
without repulsion, it follows that the nature of the centrifugal
force which unites and fluctuates with gravitation in order to
produce these elliptical elements, is no other than an active
living cosmical repulsion, which plays, in some occult way
between the terrestrial centre and the solar centre, in like
manner as cosmical attraction itself.
Such is the light which a microscopic study, so to speak,
of the ultimate forces of Nature throws upon the most wonderful problems of the universe. A studious and persistent
development of this subject will elucidate (as we shall see
more clearly in the sequel) the true character and action of
all mechanical force, will simplify investigation in every
geological, astronomical, and physical direction, and will
sooner or later profoundly modify many doctrines in every
branch of modern philosophy.




COnSMICAL REPULSION                   203
20.
Passing from  these considerations, the pregnant value of
which, springing from  all that precedes, will especially bear
upon all that follows, the physical conditions of our instructive satellite will next claim brief attention. All its aspects
of surface declare its subjection to the same elements which
have been heretofore demonstrated to act as central and conflicting forces in the constitution and physical agitations of
comets and of our own globe.  The object of this study will
not permit descriptive details, and I shall therefore only step
from universal facts to universal principles, and vice versa, for
the purpose of binding one with the other, and consolidating
the general structure upon which we are at work. But it is
manifest to all telescopists that the extraordinary volcanic
and wildly-broken conditions of the entire lunar surface only
indicate a stronger conflict of antagonistic forces within the
secondary than apparently has ever agitated its primary.
This fact, when studied by the light of preceding demonstrations, will not appear so strange or inexplicable; for the
density of the lunar mass being only about half that of the
earth, and gravity at the lunar surface being estimated at
about one-sixth of our own, its general repulsive force as
a rarefying and reactionary agent must be comparatively
very  great.  Whatever its exact relative quantity  may
be in comparison with the repulsive force of the earth,
there is nothing in the physical conditions of the moon
which does not fully harmonize with the developments of
this discussion, and strengthen its consequences in every
direction.
The fact which telescopic discovery is of late so plainly
demonstrating-viz. that many aspects of the lunar surface
must have been produced by the falling in of vast areas of its
shell-far from conflicting with principles thus far deduced,
actually  proves that similar material conditions, similar




204                 i'ORCE AND NAT'URE.
forces, and similar creative and economical designs have
reigned throughout the constitution and being of both the
earth and moon.  In two discourses long since read before
the Boston Society of Natural History, I endeavoured to
overthrow the popular geological theory of slow and continental upheavals (a theory which I formerly  believed
sound because Leopold Von Buch taught it), by pointing out
the existence of enormous cavities, and their continuous
formations within the terrestrial shell, into which vast areas
and entire hemispheres have bent or plunged at various
epochs in the earth's history, deducing therefrom the important truths which I predict must sooner or later be
accepted  that our planet was, during its azoic and paleozoic
ages scores of leagues larger than now, in all its diameters;
that the linear projections of its features (now improperly
called "upheaved mountain systems "), and its watersheds
and its deep seas and oceans —in short, its general geographical outlines-have been created by successive sudden and
cataclysmal subsidences; and that although upheavals do
exist as matters of fact, and as results and in some measure
unavoidable adjuncts of subsidences, they are limited, and
are not, and never have been, the general agency in dividing
the geological-that is to say, the creative or morphological
-periods.
In order to sustain this position, I might, were it admissible, adduce here, as collateral proof, an important and
hitherto unpublished fact of an archaeological character, in
addition to my geographical and geological observations made
upon the coasts and islands of the Pacific Ocean. The fact
is this, brought to my knowledge by an unusually extensive
practice of my profession, that a uniform custom of dorsocision has existed throughout the various Polynesian Islands
from periods unknown, and beyond all tradition, embracing
alike New Zealand, Esther Island, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and
Hawaii-a rite wholly different from, but similar in its result
to, the Jewish one of circumcision; and that this has been
performed at the eighth or ninth year in all of them, and




COSMICA'L REPULSION.                 205
transmitted by father to son, with undeviating precision, from
generation to generation. A fact of this character so deeply
rooted in the moral, social, and traditional life of many
peoples thus widely distributed throughout that vast ocean,
so remotely separated from  each other, and without intercourse, indicates even more strongly than colour, caste, or
language, not only the unity of their progenitors, but also
the wide-spread existence of a single race, the vestiges of
which were left here and there above the waters when the
land sank between America and Asia, and received the older
seas into a new basin.
Physical changes of this kind and magnitude, sustained
by evidences derived from diversified sources, have not only
a local importance to the planet in which they may occur,
but the bearing of such facts upon the physical appearances
of other globes within telescopic scrutiny is of the utmost
value, as a means of instruction and inference in regard to
their respective dynamic conditions.
The latest investigations of the moon's features with great
telescopes are bringing selenographers into clear and decided
opinions that many of its appearances and irregularities must
have been produced by the "falling in" of numerous and
vast areas of its surface.  Facts and determinations of this
character indicate, as in my studies of the earth, that the size
of the moon was formerly greater than at present.  Whether
greater elasticity of matter and forces existed in these bodies
during earlier ages, and consequent greater eccentricities of
their orbits, or whether these forces have been always employed in embellishing and populating and diversifying their
surfaces, leaving their orbits eternally the same, are interesting
questions; and although progressive acquirements of scientific
knowledge are fast removing them from the realms of speculation, it would be out of place to discuss or further to allude
to them in this connexion.  It is only the identity of phenomena, of physical aspects, as actually observed, and of the
forces which have produced, and continue to produce, these
broken and revolutionary features in both the earth and




206               FORCE AND NATURR
moon-in primary and secondary  alike-to  which the
attention of philosophers is specially invited. The indications of terrific eruptive actions throughout the visible
hemisphere of the moon are so remarkable as to convince the
commonest observer and the most superficial scholar, that if a
central force, coincident il name, nature, and function with
cosmical repulsion, can exist in the earth as a planetary
quantity, and even perform  beyond the earth important
functions in solar mechanics, the same force must unite with
gravitation in the material structure, internal dynamics, and
general motions of its attendant body.
21.
Every fact and argument adduced and brought to bear
upon the planet Mercury, the earth, and the moon, will apply
to Venus and Mars. The features of the latter are more or
less visible to the aided eye. Their physical characteristics
are similar; they are embraced in the same system; they
exist by, and are subject to, similar general laws.
22.
Reaching the outer members of our solar group, and
omitting further allusions to the asteroids, we next encounter
the prodigious volumes of matter constituting the systems
of Jupiter and Saturn.  The small density and specific
gravity of these planets, in comparison with similar conditions in the interior ones, confirm at once the wide prevalence of the law of development of molecular forces into
planetary ones; and when these physical differences, so well




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  207
known to exist in the interior and exterior planets, are compared with facts developed by experimental physics, the law
of inverse distances will also be found as applicable to cosmical and celestial as to molecular and mundane phenomena.
For instance, when balloons charged with air or gases at
ocean levels are elevated, their contents expand as the balloon
recedes from the centre of gravitation, and so on indefinitely;:
that is to say, their internal property of molecular attraction,
or of condensing energy, diminishes, and that of molecular
repulsion, or of rarefying energy, increases, and new series of
phenomena become apparent.  As the entire volumes of the
atmospheric and aqueous envelopes of the earth are only,
after all, cosmic conditions of matter, and would be and act
much like a comet, were they peeled from  the globe and
dropped in space as an independent body, it becomes manifest, from all which precedes, that this gaseous and aqueous
body would contract, that is to say, increase its own density
at perihelion, and expand and become more rare at every
successive point of its elongation.  It is a principle, already
perhaps sufficiently referred to, that I wish to elucidate by
this illustration, in order the more firmly to establish the
theorem, that the further a mass of matter, whatever its
physical constitution or dimensions, recedes or is forced from
the central point with which it is connected, or about which
it revolves, the more its individual molecules will also recede
from each other, the rarer it will become throughout its entire
volume, and consequently the less will become its density and
specific gravity.  By comparing exact physical experiment
with approximative data attained by astronomical observation
and mathematical analysis, we find this principle to prevail
as an inflexible law from the centre to the outermost boundaries of our solar system. There can be no doubt upon this
point, since Jupiter and Saturn, Earth and Mercury, all in
succession proclaim its truth; and since comets entering and
vanishing in and out of every latitude and longitude of the
heavens-north, south, east, and west-declare it to be one
of the universal results of the union of matter and force




208                 FORCE AN]D NATUiR.
wheresoever such conditions are seen to exist. Inasmuch,
then, as various conditions of density and specific gravity
in planetary bodies, and the changes and oscillations of
molecular distances incident thereto throughout their respective volumes, cannot take place without manifest developments of corresponding intensities of repulsion, it follows
that the force  which  has always been  recognised  and
taught in elementary and experimental physics by the name
of "molecular repulsion," does absolutely develop itself in
infinite space into "cosmical repulsion," and become a central,
measurable, and variable power in planetary physics and
celestial dynamics.   Limited  by academic  and technical
philosophy to the simple name of " molecular repulsion," with
corresponding conditions, capacities, functions, and possibilities alone, this force has been heretofore generally ignored,
overlooked, or rejected  as non-existent, unimportant, or
redundant in celestial dynamics; while its molecular coordinate of attraction can be demonstrated by Newton's
analysis of Kepler's discoveries to expand into gravitation,
be traced and amplified into general conditions, and verified
as identical in all its molecular and cosmical relations, developments, and aspects.  Hereafter, I trust, the magnitude
and universality of this element will receive the mathematical
development and verification of which I feel sure it is capable.
Applying these considerations to the entirety of phenomena
presented in the changing aspects of Jupiter, Saturn, and all
their appendages, problems heretofore obscure become illumiminated, and the active conflicts of repulsive and attractive
forces, as central and cosmic powers, become the demonstrable
elements and causes of all their strange and various appearances. The illustrious Arago, full of doubt and prophecy,
said well, when treating of the " very variable apparent magnitudes of Jupiter's satellites:"  "On voit que ces mondes
" eloignes presentent encore bien des probliemes a resoudre h
" nos successeurs."  (It is manifest that these distant worlds
present many problems for outr successors to solve.)
The general configuration of the planet Jupiter, its con



COSMIAC4L REPULSION.                209
stant varying dimensions (independent of terrestrial or solar
distances), however delicately micrometric observations upon
its diameters are made or accurately discussed, and a remarkable local flatness upon its southern border once clearly
defined with different telescopes by Schroeter and his assistants,
but which distinct bend in the outline they could not discern
in the following revolution;-all these singular facts denote
such plastic conditions of elemental constitution, that, when
considered together with its varying belts, shifting cloudspots, and surprising transitions of luminous intensity in
different regions, we can no longer doubt that the orb entire,
from  its innermost parts to its outmost atmospheric boundaries, is as much under the influence of active reactionary
force-pure cosmic repulsion-as our own planet, and even
more so.  The different degrees of eccentricity so remarkable
in the orbits of its satellites establish the elastic character of
the action of their central forces: and thus the evidence of
the reign of cosmical repulsion throughout both the primary
and the secondaries not only becomes probable, but positive.
23.
What we have said of the Jovian system will apply with
equal weight and significancy to the Saturnian one.  In
addition to this, the rings of Saturn, so anomalous, so
wonderful, so impossible when studied in view of gravitation
alone, seem to loom from the abysms of space in the light of
our present knowledge, as if to rebuke analysts for indulging
in vagaries, wasting the powers of the calculus upon erroneous
theories, and persistently endeavouring to establish final
truth  upon  insufficient causes and doubtful foundations.
The earliest opinions upon the physical constitution of these
rings were announced by Laplace, who considered them rigid,
and proved them to be so by the severest mathematical analyses.
To account for the planet's eccentric position within the rings,
P




210                FORCE AND NATURE.
and for the maintenance, under these circumstances, of stable
equilibrium between the primary and its massive appendages,
he declared it essential that the latter should be loaded with
a superabundance of matter at certain parts of their circumference. So profound has been the conviction of scientific
men since the time of Newton that gravitation is an unique
principle of celestial energy, that even Laplace felt himself
justified (and not in this instance alone) in announcing the
results of his equations as decisive physical facts, even where
visible conditions of nature did not meet the demands of an
hypothesis.  I do not say this with any reflection upon the
scholarship, integrity, or memory of Laplace, for he is one of
the most illustrious men of modern times.  But my object is
to place this fact in a strong light in order to show how the
scientific world, even up to our own days, has been swayed by
the weight of authority, and how dangerous and improper it
is in mathematicians to warp numbers, or assume quantities,
to meet the requirements of hypotheses, when observations
are imperfect or adverse to such hypotheses.  Imperfect
theories rarely embrace anomalies. Anomalies often indicate
the way toward subtle principles of truth.
The fact had been long known, and all observation has
confirmed it, that Saturn is not centrally situated in relation
to his rings-that there is, indeed, a peri-cosmic and an apocosmic relation existing between them; and it therefore
appears from this, that the same elements of stability are
incorporated into and must exist between Saturn and his
rings, as exist between him and his moons, between our earth
and its satellites, between other primaries and theirs, between
all planets and the sun, and between all double and revolving
stars. Nevertheless, embraced as this peri-Saturnian mechanism  evidently is, within the plan upon which the
universal clockwork of the heavens has been established, it
has not yielded its anomalies to the dissolving menstrua of
mere formulary mathematics.
The history of Astronomy decisively establishes the facts,
that the rings of Saturn have separated into many bands, and




COSMIICGaL REPULSIONl.                 211
parts of bands; that they decompose and recompose themselves
in like manner as water or quicksilver might do in flowing,
breaking up, dividing and uniting again in order to form
homogeneous volumes or oceans; and that, contrary to the
opinion of Laplace, they care not rigid.  Moreover, in later
times, Mr. George P. Bond, one of the late eminent astronomers of Massachusetts, discovered an inner variable ring not
previously known, and detected also such movements in the
" old " rings, as to afford unmistakeable proof that voluminous
interchanges of force and material currents are constantly
oscillating from the inner to the outer, and from the outer to
the inner regions of these breaking and still apparently continuous appendages.  These immortal discoveries are positive
demonstrations that the peri-Saturnian rings are not solid or
rigid.  Nothing beyond these disclosures is wanting to prove
the existence and incessant fluctuation  throughout these
bodies, of attraction and repulsion as cosmic co-ordinates and
co-efficient principles of energy.
The doctrines of Laplace upon the rigid constitution of
these rings prevailed in the schools for fifty years, and
checked all investigations upon their character, notwithstanding the frequently observed dislocations of their form  and
substance, until Mr. Bond's discoveries and discussions settled
the question, overthrowing the mathematical demonstrations
of the " Mecanique Celeste," and establishing, on the contrary, their fluid and elastic constitution and mobile and
fluctuating functions.  And now, strange to say, since Mr.
Bond's important observations have furnished new  data for
discussion, other mathematicians have carried analysis so far
in opposite directions to those of Laplace, as not only to
describe (as Pierce of Harvard College has done) the exact
degree of fluidity possessed by these peri-Saturnian rings,
but so much further also as to announce that they are not
fluid at all, but probably continuous currents of meteors,
like the showers of shooting-stars periodically visible from
our own planet.
Whether this last conclusion is more accurate than the
P 2




212                FORCE AND NA TURLE
first announced by Laplace, time will probably determine; but
the point which I desire to set forth conspicuously in this
connexion and by these contrasting facts, is the effort made
in the present state of cosmo-mechanical philosophy to bridge
or fill a vacuum by numerical or mathematical speculation,
so to speak, as a result of the incompleteness of our knowledge
of universal physical laws.
Every effort to satisfy disturbances of equilibrium, where
there never was stability, and where no condition or element
of stability exists or ever existed-where gravitation must
have a counterpoise of absolute antagonistic energy-where
the assumption of the vis inertice of masses vanishes both
from  hypothesis and possibility-and  where, as in  the
rings of Saturn, it is impracticable for analytical mechanics
to base research exclusively upon current theory without
reaching extremes of physical impossibility and scientific
absurdity;-every effort and result of this character exposes
more and more plainly not only the imperfect development
of celestial dynamics, but also the insufficiency of the system
upon which analysis is founded.
Amid all this confusion and uncertainty, however, two
simple facts are clear: molecules exist and attraction reigns
throughout the Saturnian system, as cosmic entities. If so,
then repulsion reigns also, as the co-ordinate of gravitation;
for we have previously seen that, as a fundamental and eternal
law, all three are united and inseparable, and that all three
are equally essential to the universal harmonies and general
stability of nature, whatever combinations or forms molecules
may assume, or however masses of matter or volumes of
force may be associated with, related to, or separated from
one another.
Were any facts or evidence wanting to illustrate the truth
of my proposition, or strengthen the soundness of my discussion, they will be found in that wonderful condition of
things presented by the planet Saturn and his rings. The
current mechanical hypothesis does not apply to their conditions any more than to the phenomena developed by comets,




COSMIICAL REPULSION.                213
or the interior physics of our own globe. But if the basis of
inductive philosophy be enlarged so far as to admit the
antagonistic element of repulsion to be a living mechanical
agent, capable of reacting with attraction under every molecular
and cosmical circumstance and condition, all difficulties vanish
in connexion with the elastic character and decompositions
of these otherwise anomalous appendages. Unless this fundamental and reactionary principle be recognised as a power
capable, like gravitation, of the utmost numerical as well as
graphical development, the physical aspects, constitution, and
phenomena of the peri-Saturnian rings must for ever remain
insoluble problems. Permanent yet flexible creations, looming
and fading, gilded and glowing with vacillating currents of
light and shadow, revolving in space with stupendous velocity
as independent continuous rings of matter, unattached and
yet chained to a rolling projectile globe, thus far defying the
calculus and setting at nought the most varied conjectures
of the greatest analysts, overwhelming astronomers and philosophers alike with wonder, there they are, established in the
heavens, impassable and unavoidable barriers to the triumph
of prevailing doctrines.  The intellect, like the eye, must
accept them as new and pregnant facts; and if they embrace
or expose elements or conditions of force and motion beyond
explanation upon principles announced by our illustrious
predecessors, philosophy must certainly expand itself to meet
their requisitions, even if a complete reconstruction of its
present dogmas be found necessary.
24.
If repulsion, the same potential principle which has
hitherto been traced as a radical and voluminous energetic
existing and active in and throughout the structure of the
various members of our system, be sought after in the




214                 FORlCE AND NATURE.
central and controlling body itself, abundant observation
verifies its existence and activity there, and establishes the
fact of its enormous and far-reaching influence as a reactionary and phenomenal agent.  For not only do its dynamical functions appear to be correlated with mechanical events
occurring constantly in our own globe, as I have endeavoured
to show; but also, as is now being demonstrated by De la Rue
and Balfour Stewart, with the relative positions of the other
planetary bodies which revolve around it. Since gravitation
as a cosmic force binds to the solar centre all bodies or
spheres of force which revolve around it, by their respective
centres, so that there exists, as Newton has proved, an absolute imutual interchange of attractive influences based upon
specific laws of quantity and inverse distances, it follows by
the closest induction that repulsion must exist and act as a
central cosmic force also, and become the great reactionary
agent, affecting every molecule bound to the sun, in any
manner or relation whatever, and always in an o2pposite sense
to the force of attraction,
The fact that the density of the sun is only one quarter
that of our planet, shows, in the first place, the pervading
reign of repulsion between its molecules, throughout the
entire solar mass.  This, together with its enormous magnitude (its diameter being 882,000, while the mean diameter
of our globe is only 7,912 miles), will, in the next place, give
some idea of the prodigious volume of repulsive force existing
and active within this central and controlling orb.
Since repulsion has been shown to be a dynamical agent in
molecules, in comets, and in planets, the facts just noted are
certainly suggesti-re that the mechanical energy heretofore
believed to exist in the sun is not dependent upon and
confined to the force of gravitation alone. If gravitation acts
in proportion to the magnitude of this body, drawing its
surrounding appendages towards its centre with degrees of
energy dependent upon inverse distances; then, upon the
principles which have been antecedently developed, it follows
that repulsion must be a component of the solar energies,




COSMICWL REP ULSION.                  215
that it must also act in the capacity of a magnified co-ordinate, and be a co-efficient principle, but active in a manner
contrary in every sense to that of solar gravitation.  And
such I hold we shall find to be the case.
Besides the points above stated upon the density and
specific gravity of the sun, its physical aspects abound with
visible proofs of uninterrupted reaction and of unusually
active molecular repulsion in and over every part of its
surface.  Even the appearance and origin of the faculae and
"willow  leaves," and of the general mottled appearance of
the photosphere, are no longer subjects of doubt to physical
observers of large experience. That they are material conditions arising from the breaking up and rolling and surging
of luminiferous gases or elastic rarefied fluids of constantly
fluctuating densities, of the swelling and puffing up of one
point and the subsiding of another, and the mingling of contiguous irregular masses of vapoury matter into one great
spherical envelope of mobile molecules, no astronomer or
physicist longer doubts.
If observers could view our globe as they examine the sun,
enormous areas of its atmosphere would often present appearances similar to those in the solar envelope. Such phenomena
can be demonstrated to be cosmical in character, and  to
depend for their existence as much upon primary repulsion
as subsequent gravitation.  For I hold that no motion of
vapour, or of atmospheric molecules, can take place, unless
repulsion first creates a radiating or upward current, and that
wind is only the gravitation of particles to fill what would
otherwise become an absolute or comparative vacuum. Hence
the most violent cyclones, either in the terrestrial or solar
envelopes, are only so many positive proofs of the phenomenal,energy of repulsion as a force the opposite of gravitation.
The recent observations of Lockyer, upon the solar spots,
establish the truth  of these conclusions in a remarkable
manner, and are of the highest importance.
On the morning of July 15, 1844, a rare moment for
comparison of terrestrial and solar phenomena of analogous




216               FORCE AND NATURE.
characters, I happened to be upon the summit of Hale-aka-la, the vast extinct volcano of East Maui, one of the
Hawaiian Islands, and from a height of ten thousand feet
above the ocean saw the aspects imparted by the rising sun
to a field of vapour which, from three to five thousand feet
below me, spread to the horizon in all directions. Here and
there the black summit of an island pierced the resplendent
picture, and a vast irregular fleecy mass or a deep cavity
broke conspicuously its general uniformity.  Otherwise, it
was uninterrupted  and  apparently endless. The magnificence and impressiveness of the view exceeded everything
I have yet seen upon the earth; and I never look at the sun
through any telescope without beholding the counterpart of
that extraordinary vision stamped upon its disc. The only
observable difference was that the snowy aspects of the terrestrial vapours presented on that occasion are replaced by
yellowish tints in the solar ones. All below, and wherever
I looked, was endless confusion of soft, fleecy, brilliant inequalities; rounded and projecting points gleaming with
silver, and transmitting light with different shades; swelling
masses divided by immense and diversified shallows, with
here and there a bursting snowberg, looming in gigantic boldness above all the rest; and as the rays of the advancing sun
gleamed from point to point and changed the aspects of drift
and hollow, this endless, undulating mantle presented not
only every aspect of luminous beauty, but also all that
mottled appearance so characteristic of the solar photosphere.
Beside all these general identities of aspect, "a spot" was
observable here and there-a rare object, but a veritable hole
-piercing the mottled luminous field, in and beneath which
were  only blackness and darkness.  The common dark
colour of land, and the blacker hue of ocean, were alike
undefinable.
Such was the exterior surface of this mottled vapoury
mantle suspended for several hundred miles over a tropical
region of our planet; and which, under my limited range of
observation, was to all intents and purposes as nmuch an




COSMICCAL REPULSION.                 217
envelope of the earth as the solar photosphere, seen through
our telescopes, is an envelope of the sun. It was separated,
moreover, from our globe as the photosphere appears to be
separated from the sun, and as the rings of Saturn are separated from that planet, by a force the opposite of gravitation.
To say that clouds of dust, and that such vast fields of dense
and glittering vapour " only float," or " are sustained by their
vis inertio," is only to employ meaningless parlance for the
profound and pregnant scientific term of repulsion. It is no
difficult task to show that this repulsion, which thus acts
throughout and around the orb of the sun, is a cosmical force;
inasmuch as the telescopic observations and discussions of
astronomers, from Fabricius and Galileo to those of our own
day, including especially those of Wilson, Wolf, Schwabe,
Carrington, Dawes, and Lockyer, the polariscopic studies of
physicists since Arago initiated them  in 1811, and the late
spectral discoveries of Frauenhofer, Kirchhoff, Bunsen, and
others;-all these varied observations assert and confirm
such physical conditions to exist in the photosphere as are
inseparable from  the play of potential energies of a reactionary, uplifting, or radiating  character pervading the
entire mass embraced within it.  So palpable, indeed, to
every philosopher is the energetic action of some central
outbreaking element, that no theory upon the causation of
the solar spots has been advanced which does not involve
the necessity of the presence and agency of force the opposite of gravitation.  Even the theory of my eminent friend
Professor Kirchhoff of Heidelberg, so exceptional and probably quite wrong upon this particular point, is nevertheless
more decided than all others upon the absolute incandescent
and molten constitution of the solar sphere itself.
The same statements may be made in relation to every
other physical aspect of the sun. The convoluted masses of
dense luminous vapour which envelope and swell the central
body to its vast dimensions are continually surging, bursting,
driving hither and thither, flashing and fading in their lights
and shadows, and exhibiting such constant molecular changes




218                FORCE AND NATURE.
and voluminous movements as to demonstrate conflicts of
force within and pervading the entire globe, which are wholly
irreconcilable with the theory that gravitation is the only
element of potential energy at the base of its constitution.
Attempts to explain these phenomena by magnetic and electrical hypotheses fail to meet the demands of exact science,
for these must all fall to the ground when it is considered
that attraction of gravitation alone is not electricity, nor
magnetism, nor heat, nor light, and cannot produce them, nor
be substituted for or converted into them.  But when repulsion is recognised as a conflicting and reactionary agent in
the central and controlling mass of our system, swelling from
molecular into stellar potentials, and from limited into voluminous manifestations, as an active central force fluctuating
with gravitation through every molecule in the sun and in
every globe,-it is then that philosophy will command a solid
basis for theory, and a link will appear and become established
ibetween gravitation and magnetism, and every other expres-.sion of polar force. For the antagonism of the molecular
forces of attraction and repulsion is the very fundamental
principle of all polarity. When this is traced-as will subsequently appear-into its solar developments and stellar
amplitudes, and when the manifold members of the cosmos
are shown to sway and hang between these two elements of
Omnipotent Power which, first creating, still generates and
governs all other physical principles and unfoldings, the
puzzling problems of magnetism, electricity, heat, and light,
as planetary phenomena, will receive immediate solution,
and their polar characteristics will appear legitimately dependent upon the duality of their primaries and originators, and
become palpably correlated to gravitation through the great
link heretofore wanting to perfect modern physics into a
harmonious system of natural philosophy.  When the reign
of repulsion shall be admitted to be universal, and the
principle itself to be a co-efficient element of energy with
gravitation  in all its varied manifestations of local and
planetary activity, as I have endeavoured to indicate and




COSMnIC L -REPULSION.                 219
illustrate, the secondary phenomena of magnetism, &c. proceeding out of their functions as a sort of secretion or new
creation and birth, will no longer be objects of greater
wonder or more difficult explanation than their congeners
which are produced in the workroom  of the chemist or
physicist in his daily experiments.
25.
To prove by another order of data-by a sort of inductive
or synthetical method of investigation-that repulsion exists
and acts as a central solar force, I will again summon the
earth for testimony, and so interrogate it that its responses,
although indirect and reflective, shall leave no doubt upon
the question, if the  contributions  of Lamont, Schwabe,
Wolf, and Sabine to cosmical science be facts, and not
delusions.  That they are facts and solid elements of inductive knowledge, continued observations most certainly attest.
The connexion ascertained by Sabine to exist between the
decennial period  of magnetic  fluctuations discovered  by
Lamont, and the periodic character of the solar spots observed by Wolf and  Schwabe, evinces ceaseless contests
between potential forces of a gravitative and reactionary
character, which not only rend enormous areas of the solar
surface and create visible agitations and convoluting alterations of form  and substance throughout the solar disc, but
also simultaneously act beyond and across immense depths of.space in such a manner as to engender dynamic disturbances
within other bodies, which disturbances also appear to act
and react, from their centres to their surfaces, and vice versa,
with intensest power. Heretofore the moleczlar conditions and
forces of attraction and reaction-that is to say, repulsion-.
existing and acting as causal or phenomenal entities wit/hin
the spheres revolving round the sun, in all —whether primaries, secondaries, comets, or asteroids-have been consi



220                FORCE AND NATURE.
dered wholly independent of the central forces and molecular
conditions of attraction and of reaction existing and acting
within the solar globe as an individual body of matter.
Nevertheless, so great and positive is the phenomenal action
of this dynamic element in the central body, and so mutually
responsive is its cognate principle in the primaries of our
system, that I am led to conclude, as the result of prolonged
observation and study, that not a throb of molecular force or
an eruptive disturbance occurs in the sun that is not instantly
felt and responded to within the bowels and from the centre
of our own planet.  Indeed, such mutual and definite relations, and such delicate adjustments, do these molecular and
central forces appear to hold towards each other in the two
bodies (perturbations from the action of third bodies proving
with greater certainty the accuracy of my conclusions and
the universality of this law), that reactionary, upheaving, and
radiating phenomena occurring in the sun are simultaneously
felt in the earth, and not less positively indicated and proved
by variations of intensity in the magnetic force than by associated disturbances in the molecular and massive structure of
the planet; for the extensive researches of Dr. Emil Kluge
exhibit numerous synchronisms between volcanic eruptions
and variations of terrestrial magnetic force and the solar
spots.  These valuable contributions to cosmical physics,
together with various other authentic coincidences of remarkable deflections of the magnetic needle with earthquakes, recorded by different observers in widely separated
parts of the globe, and the frequent notes existing among my
data of the synchronism  of seismic disturbance with the
aurora borealis and with magnetic storms, are profoundly
suggestive of the wealth of physical discovery lying within
the range of the forces which react with such  activity
between the centres of the sun and of the earth, and of
the sun and of every other body which revolves around
it.  An interesting observation, personally communicated
by  Professor Lamont, during  one of my visits to the
Astronomical Observatory near Munich, is not without the




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  221
broadest significancy. I present the statement in substantial
form as this distinguished astronomer permitted me to use it.
Descending one morning into a subterranean observatory,
where, some years since, he was conducting a special series
of magnetic observations, he found his instruments in the
most tumultuous agitation.  He was filled with surprise,
having at no time seen them in such a state. The observatory
was too deep and remote from roads to be affected by vehicles
or passing loads of iron. The anomaly was so striking, that
he noted the time and peculiarities of the fact in his record,
by reference to which the date was found to be 1842, April 18,
9 h. 10 m. A.M. He thought nothing more about this until he
noticed, some days afterwards, the occurrence of a violent
earthquake in the Grecian Archipelago; and on examination
of his register, he ascertained that the magnetic perturbations
were simultaneous with the seismic phenomenon. Upon the
same authority, I will also state that Professor Colla made a
similar observation upon his magnetic instruments at Parma,
Italy, the same morning.
I shall take occasion in this connexion to invite in an
especial manner the attention of physicists to another remarkable synchronism-a fact presenting a still wider range
in its bearings, and possessing a very wonderful and impressive character. For a detailed account of the phenomena
I will refer to " A Description of a Singular Appearance in the
Sun on September 1, 1859," noted by Mr. Carrington, and
to another observation by Mr. Hodgson, noted at a different
observatory, and published in the monthly notices of the
Royal Astronomical Society, Nov. 11, 1859.
Mr. Carrington describes the sudden, violent, and dazzling
commotion as he was observing a great sun spot, and goes on
to say: "The instant of the first outburst was not 15 seconds
"different from 11h. 18m. Greenwich mean time, and 11h.
"23m. was taken for the time of disappearance.  In this
"lapse of five minutes, the two patches of light traversed a
"space of about 35,000 miles," and they were computed to
be as large in area as the earth itself.




222                FORCE AND NATURE.
Mr. Hodgson, who fortunately was observing the sun at
the same time, at another and distant place, says that this
sudden and surprising outbreak was " much brighter than the
" sn's stuface, and most dazzling to the protected eye," and that
" the centre might be compared to the dazzling brilliancy of the
"bright star Alphca Lyra, when seen in a large telescope with a
" low power. It lasted for some five minutes, and disappeared
instantly about I h. 25m. A.M."
" Mr. Carrington," remarks the Secretary of the Astronomical
Society, "exhibited at the November meeting of the Society" a complete diagram of the disc of the sun at the time, and.
"copies of the photographic records of the variations of the
"three magnetic elements as observed at Kew; and pointed
" out that a moderate but very marked disturbance took place
"at about llh. 20m. Sept. 1, of short duration; and that
"towards four hours after midnight there commenced a great
"magnetic storm, which subsequent accounts established to
"have been as considerable in the southern as in the northern
"hemisphere."
In order to establish the connexion of these solar and
terrestrial phenomena, and to fix the attention of physicists
upon a point so interesting as the intercosmic relationship of
matter and force; in order, indeed, to bring, as I design to
do hereafter, these reciprocities of phenomena within range
of explanation on principles recently made known by the
observations and experiments of Mayer and Joule upon the
correlations, conservation, and equivalencies of the terrestrial
forces; I will here present an exact coincidence of events —a
fact which to logical minds must be as conclusive of a unity
of dynamic action and a connexion of final causative agencies
(although the masses were 90,000,000 miles asunder), as if
Lisbon and London were simultaneously shaken by an earthquake, that the events proceeded from  the same dynamic
impulse, and were in some hidden way connected with the
same preceding conditions and the same final sources of
mechanical power.
A note addressed to my eminent friend Dr. Balfour Stewart,




COSSMICAL REPULSION.                  223
the Superintendent of the Kew Observatory, has enabled me
to present the time-scale readings of the photographic record
of the magnetic disturbance noted at the epoch mentioned.
The  following  memorandum  was communicated, in  the
absence of Dr. Stewart, by Mr. G. M. Whipple, his able
Assistant:"As near as I can determine, it appears to have commenced
" on Sept. 1, 1859, at 11h. 16m. A.M.  The culmination was
"at llh. 22m. A.M.  The magnet gradually came to rest, so
"that no definite time can be stated for the end. The original
" curve appears to be resumed in the horizontal force at 1 h.
" 52m. A.AM.in the declination at noon-and in the vertical
"force at 12h. 15im. P.M.
"The greatest extent of movement in the declination
"was 17' 15"."
During my visit to the Royal Observatory at Greenwichl
on June 6th of the current year, I was furnished with the
amplest opportunities for examining the records, as well as
the instruments in use and the methods of observation.
adopted at that renowned establishment.  Placed by Mr.
Glaisher in the hands of his accomplished first assistant, Mr.
Wnm. Nash, I was enabled to inspect the hourly photographic
curve and the sudden and extraordinary magnetic disturbance
recorded by the Greenwich instruments at the date referred
to.  Upon the application of the time-scale to the photographic sheet, Mr. Nash found the time of the commeneement
of this sudden and short storm  to be (Sept. 1, 1859) 11lh
15m. A.M., and its end to be 11h. 43m. A.M. Its culminating
point, as indicated by the greatest deflection of the magnet,
was at l h. 27m. A.M.  Th/e movement of the mcgnet, astraceable in this record, was as sudden as the flashes in the
solar spot observed at the same moments by both Carrington acnd
Hodgson.
Mr. Nash informed me that on the morning of the 2d
Sept. 1859, the photographic sheets indicated the greatest
magnetic disturbance  which  the instruments  have  ever
recorded.




224                FORCE AND NATURE.
With regard to this point, Mr. Whipple writes from the
Kew Observatory as follows: "A  much larger disturbance
"occurred at 5 A.M. on the 2d Sept., which lasted for 11 hours,
"the movements of which were in several instances too rapid
"and too large in extent to be recorded."
The same phenomenon, I am informed by Dr. Stewart, was
recorded at Lisbon at the same time.
Mr. Nash informs me as the result of his unintermitted
observations for many years, that "more' great magnetical
" storms and general magnetic disturbance take place in
" winter than in summer: " preferring to use the names of
the cold and warm  seasons, rather than the names of the
winter months, December and January, and summer months,
June and July.
The general results of the magnetic storm observations
made at the Greenwich Observatory correspond with those
made at all other stations on the globe, whether upon the
surface or deep in the bowels of the earth. As periodical
phenomena studied in the light of simple meteorological data,
scientific men have heretofore regarded them as dependent on
seasons of heat and cold-that is to say, the exposure of the
surface of the planet to the solar rays; and observers allow
themselves to speak of them  only in connexion with the
seasons of the year.  But when they are referred to in this
work I wish to give them a broader and deeper meaning, and
I use them in connexion with the names of the months, as
December and January, June and July, because these terms
are symbols of the earth's position in its orbit, because they
measure the length and sweep of the radius vector, because
they mark the position of the perihelion and aphelion, and
bring the general dynamical phenomena observable in the
globe into correlation with the dynamical movements in the
central body seen by the eye of Schwabe and Wolf, and photographed and confirmed by De la Rue and Stewart at Kew.
So positively do all these synchronisms (differing in intensity and in the form  of their manifestation as they may)
exist between visible physical disturbances in the earth, and




COSMICAL REPULSIOV.                  225
even between the earth and sun, and so numerous are they,
that when considered in connexion with the general fact that
nmaxirma and minima intensities of seismic phenomena and
of magnetic phenomena are constantly periodic and coincident with perihelic and aphelic distances, few will disallow
the correctness of my positions and conclusions.
As all these diversities and alliances of phenomena, so
interesting and so pregnant with useful results, lie as yet upon
the verge of a comparatively unexplored field of inquiry, they
can but incite scholars to enlarge their researches, and even
stimulate governments to contribute unsparing facilities to
extend this branch of knowledge.  And it is the more
promising of fruitful discovery, since all experimental researches in molecular physics bring out only such conditions
and results as are entirely harmonious with those observable
in cosmical phenomena, and the former appear to be only
diminutives of the latter, when all are viewed from  the
cosmographical point of view in which I have endeavoured
to unfold them. No luminous, thermic, magnetic, or electrical
element appears, or can be generated in physical experiments
of any sort without motion-that is to say, molecular compression and reaction-or those constant disturbances of the
molecular forces of repulsion and attraction called friction.
And I may be permitted to repeat just here, at the risk of
being tedious to the reader, that heat, magnetism, electricity,
and light viewed in their cosmic amplitudes are not molecular attraction nor attraction of gravitation, and that they
are not convertible into, nor the equivalents of, attraction or
gravity. This has been conclusively established by Faraday
and others.  That they do appear, however, as correlative
entities with repulsion, when repulsion is in any manner
cognizable or demonstrable, is most certain; and the intensities of their development appear to be in direct proportion
to the action and reaction of the fundamental forces of matter,
molecular 9repulsion and molecular attraction. In so far as
the relations of cause and effect are considered, the molecular
forces maintain the conditions of primaries, out of the vibratQ




226                FORCE AND NATURE.
ing functions or decompositions of which proceed a series of
secondary forces-magnetism, light, heat, &c.: in other words,
motion and dynamical phenomena in every form and amplitude, the partial discovery of the laws, correlations, and
mechanical equivalencies of which by Mayer and Joule
constitutes the highest intellectual achievement of the present
age.  Every department of experimental physics declares and
confirms the correctness of these principles.
Attraction or gravity, as a pure abstract force, is not magnetism, nor light, nor heat, nor electricity; and, as a unique
fundamental principle, without an active opponent inherent
in cosmical masses, would be powerless to vary the motions
of these masses in space, or to create differences of ellipticity
in their orbits, or develop seismic and other dynamic and correlative phenomena within their respective circumferences.
But REPULSION as a polar antagonist, capable of conversion
also into a dynamical associate of attraction, is the principle which links all phenomenca expressions of the SECONDARIES with the ultimate conditions of nature, and harmonizes
experimental facts with every display of light, heat, electricity, and magnetism, and with every form of motion and
mechanical action observable in the cosmos.  When celestial
physics shall be more generally studied from  this point of
view, and in the light of exact knowledge derived from experiments in molecular physics, discarding all hypotheses and
speculative doctrines, the central relations and mutual attractions and reactions existing between the sun, and the earth,
moon, comets, and all other bodies revolving in orbits of different eccentricities, will be better understood. So harmoniously
do observations upon the varying intensities of terrestrial
electricity and magnetism correspond with the same elements
in seismic and eruptive phenomena, that it may be clearly
inferred that magnetic and thermic forms of energy are generated, on a terrestrial and solar scale, by general molecular
disturbances, as we see their diminutives generated in the
experimental workshop of the physicist and chemist.  Whatever may be the physical constitution of any object, its




COSlJICAL RUPFUliSON.                 227
molecular status cannot be disturbed in the slightest degree
unless secondary force, in one of its forms of electricity, heat,
light, magnetism, becomes manifest.  Now, since Kepler has
shown that our planet moves in an elliptical orbit with the
sun in one of its foci, and since I have shown that the
maxima and minima intensities of the molecular disturbances
in our planet coincide with the perihelic and aphelic arcs of
this ellipse, it follows that no particle of matter or iota of
force in the globe is ever at rest, and that the density of its
mass is never for an instant the same, any more than that
of comets; and, inasmuch as Sabine has shown that the intensities of the total magnetic force are also greatest when the
earth is in the perihelic part of its orbit, and least in aphelion, it follows with equal certainty that this total force is
in direct proportion to the molecular agitation, motion, and
friction of particles; that is to say, to the oscillations of
repulsion and attraction on a vast scale-the very energetics
which I have already demonstrated to be the active agents
in producing seismic and volcanic phenomena in the earth,
and the spots and other physical evolutions in the sun.
Thus the various forms of experimental research, the results
of general observation at different points of the planet's
surface, and the tendencies to unity of all scientific inquiry
lead at last to a generalization of great interest and importance.  The data derived from  these sources do more than
suggest that in worlds, as in molecules, attraction and repulsion are the root of all other forces and phenomena. They
compel us to believe, if motion, heat, light, magnetism, electricity, actinism, or life, are correlated in any manner or
degree with the force of gravitation, that it is through the
agency of REPULSION that this connexion takes place.  So
broad and vast a function does this latter force, as a pure
and ulterior principle, perform in the universe, considered as
a field of creation and continuous existence, that I hold it to
be more essential to the present system  of being than any
other force or principle within the range of human thought,
or of experimental and inductive philosophy.
Q2




228               FORCE AND NATURE.
26.
Having pursued the study of this force into the very centre
of our planetary system, and grappled with it in its relations
to the various spheres and forms of matter which, clinging to
and revolving round this centre, are nevertheless not permitted to unite with it, however closely approximating (as
proved by the great comet of 1843, which traversed the
luminous atmosphere, or photosphere), we will examine its
action in still more distant regions of space.
To name phenomena known to exist in connexion with
multiple and variable stars (and I here direct attention
to them  in order that they may be elsewhere studied in
detail) is sufficient to present a hundred problems which defy
all solution within the hypothesis that gravitation is the
sole active central force in cosmical bodies and in celestial
mechanics. The assumption that heat and its correlatives of
electricity, light, &c. are the motive powers, either in combination with or in opposition to gravity, within and beyond
the respective circumference of these stars, is, in the present
state of physical knowledge, inadmissible.  The wondrous
fancy that all the stars of heaven were pelted one by one
from the hand of God, as was assumed by Newton in regard
to the moon and planets, whereby to claim a suitable momentum and inertia for gravitation to play upon (through which
conception-splendid in him and fortunate for the worldhis immortal discovery was happily achieved), fails to resolve
the mighty problem which lies at the base of creation, or
grasp the force which imparts continuous impulse to universal nature.
All this class of distant worlds whose motions have been
determined, travel, like the bodies of our own system, in
elliptical orbits, which differ only in this particular, that
many of them are enormously elongated, thereby resembling
cometary orbits.  This fact, it will be perceived in view of
the preceding discussions, is pregnant with the most striking
significancy. So vast indeed are the periods in which some




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  229
of these multiple stars perform their revolutions around each
other, that "the great year of Alcor, Mizar, and the small
"star near them, cannot be less than 180,000 of our years,
"while that of the quadruple E Lyra must exceed 500,000."
"The orbits of the planets and their satellites are," says
Nichol, "almost circular, or ellipses of very small eccentricity; while the curves of the double stars have every
"degree  of elongation-challenging  the freedom  of the
comets.  The orbits in the case of a Centauri and y Virginis are especially eccentric, so that at opposite periods
of their cycles the two connected suns must be very close
"to each other and very far apart.  If," he continues, "each
"of these suns is attended by planets, how extraordinary
"the physical condition of these planets, and how inextricable
their mechanical relations!"  The luminous intensity and
general variability of physical aspect observable in these
classes of orbs appear to be directly proportional to their
motion, internal agitations, and approximation to each other,
thus establishing the universality of a law of correlation between intensities of phenomena-intensities in the developments, I mean, of secondary forces, as of light, heat, &c. which
always spring from  and coincide with intensities of action
between the primary forces of attraction and repulsion in and
upon molecules.  The manifestation of this law is equally
observable, and coincident with the play of repulsion and
attraction, in the molecular constitution of the most distant
stars; in that of comets, and of the earth in their radial and
orbital connexions with the sun; and in that of terrestrial
matter subjected  to  experiment in every department of
physical investigation.  While phenomena developed by the
latter depend upon compression and reaction, composition
and decomposition, absorption and dispersion, &c. and are
induced by human inventions; phenomena of a similar kind,
developed by molecular agitations in cosmical masses, result
from  and  depend  always upon  incessant /fluctuations of
their density. Upon this point we have already sufficiently
enlarged.




230                 FORCE AN7D NATURE.
27.
The course of study developed by the illustrious Francis
Arago upon the polarization of light, reduced the general
physical constitution of the stellar bodies and the play of the
molecular forces within them to such positive knowledge, that
many years before his death he declared himself prepared to
announce the following propositions without hesitation:
"Si nne etoile changeante, examinee avec la lunette polari"scope, reste parfaitement blanche dans toutes ses phases, on
"pent done assurer que sa partie exterieure ou incandescente' n'est pas liquide, et que la lumiere emnane d'une substance
analogue a nos nuages ou a nos gaz enflamme's....
"La constitution physique des photospheres des millions
"d'etoiles dont le firmament est parseme, est identique' la
"constitution physique de la photosphere solaire."  (Arago,
"Ast. Pop." liv. xiv. chap. 25.)
" If a variable star examined with the polariscope keep
perfectly white through all its changes, we may be sure
" that its external or incandescent part is not liquid, and that
"the light emanates from  a substance analogous to our
clouds, or burning gases....
" The physical constitution of the photospheres of the
"millions of stars with which the heavens are studded, is
"identical with that of the solar photosphere."
The spectrum observations of Messrs. Huggins and Miller
confirm  and extend the discoveries of Arago.  Extracts from
an important paper of theirs on the new  star in  Corona
Borealis, communicated to the Royal Society of London in
1866 ("Proceedings," &c. No. 84), will exhibit our field of
inquiry in a new  and striking light, illustrate still more
clearly the power and extent of cosmical repulsion, and
fortify every point of the preceding discussions.
"' A new star has suddenly burst forth in Corona,' wrote
Mr. Baxendell, of Manchester, to one of us.... Last




COSMWICAL REPULSION.                   231
" night, May 16th, we observed this remarkable object..
"In the telescope it was surrondced by a faint nebulous haze
"extending to a considerable distance, and gradually fading
"away at the boundary.   A  compcarative examination  of
neighbouring stars showed that this nebulosity really existed
"about the star....  On the 17th this nebulosity was suspected
"only; on the 19th and 21st it was not seen.... When
"the spectroscope was placed on the telescope, the light
" of this new  star formed a spectrum  unlike that of any
"celestial body which  we have hitherto  examined.  The
"light of the star is compound, and has emanated from  two
"different sources.  Each light forms its own spectrum.  In
"the instrument these spectra appear superposed. The prin"cipal spectrum  is analogous to that of the sun, and is
" evidently formed by the light of an incandescent solid or
"liquid photosphere, which has suffered absorption by the
"vapours of an envelope cooler than itself.   The second
"spectrum  consists of a few bright lines, which indicate that
"the light by which it is formed was emitted by matter in
"the state of luminous gas...   It is difficult to imagine
" the present physical constitution of this remarkable object.
" There must be a photosphere of matter in the solid or liquid
" state emitting light of all refrangibilities.  Surrounding this
" must exist also an atmosphere of cooler vapours.... Be" sides this constitution, which it possesses in common with
"the sun and stars, there must exist the source of the gaseous
"spectrum....  The gaseous mass from  which  this light
"emanates must be at a much higher temperature than the
"photosphere of the star.... The position of two of the
"bright lines suggests that this gas may consist chiefly of
"hydrogen.... The character of the spectrum of this star,
"taken together with its sudden outburst int brilliancy and its
"rapid decline in brightness, suggests to us the rather bold
"speculation that in  consequence of some vast convulsion
"taking place in this object large quantities of gas have been
"evolved from  it; that the hydrogen present is burning by
"combination with some other element, and furnishes the light




232                FORCE AND NATURE.
"represented by the bright lines; also that the flaming gas
"has heated to vivid incandescence the solid matter of the
"photosphere.  As the hydrogen becomes exhausted, all the
"phenomena diminish in intensity, and  the star rapidly
"wanes.... The whole class of white stars are distin"guished by having hydrogen lines of extraordinary force.
" It may also be mentioned here that we have found that the
"spectra of several of the more remarkable of the variable
"stars, namely those distinguished by an orange or ruddy
"tint, possess a close general accordance with  those of
" a Orionis, / Pegasi, and the absorption spectrum  of the
"remarkable object described in this paper.  The purely' speculative idea presents itself from these observations, that
"hydrogen probably plays an important part in the differences
" of physical constitution which apparently separate the stars
"into groups, and possibly also in the changes by which these
" diferences may be brought about."
All purely speculative ideas touching the physical constitution, or the influence of this upon the groupings, or
positions of the heavenly bodies, are rejected, in this branch
of analysis; but it will be noticed at the same time, that
this speculation of Mr. Huggins favours the positions to
which the entire drift of the preceding discussions tend. iMy
only point is to prove the existence in nature of a purely
abstract force of repulsion, whose amplitude of dynamical
action ascends with that of attraction from molecules into
worlds, so as to become everywhere, in planets and stars,
a central force with decentral functions, and be the associate,
co-ordinate, and coefficient of gravitation, wherever the latter
can be shown to exist and act.
28.
Spectral analysis, as a means of chemical discovery of the
most subtle character, both on a cosmical and molecular scale,
is now placed beyond question.




COSMlICA4L REP ULSIONt.               233
If, then, the discoveries made by Arago, Frauenhofer,
Kirchhoff, Bunsen, Huggins, and Miller, positively prove
that the chemical elements and the mechanical (or thermodynamic) actions of matter existing in distant orbs are similar,
and in many cases identical, with those existing in this
planet, it follows with equal certainty that the radical forces
of attraction and repulsion, and therefore, as a consequence,
the molecules themselves, whatever may be their ultimate
forms or other peculiarities, are identical in all respects
throughout the universe, at least as far as this sort of analysis
has been carried: for the discovery of chemical and thermoclynamic identities upon a cosmical and universal scale involves all the other physical conditions in question. But the
most profound and important discovery of all embraced in
this prolific department of physics, is that which demonstrates the identities and reciprocal influences of the molecular forces as chemical energetics existing and acting between
all the bodies which roll through space, however widely these
bodies may be separated from  each other.  The wonderful
delicacy of the spectrum-analyses exhibits evidence of these
physical intercommunications with far greater certainty and
by more varied means and facts, than are afforded by synchronisms and periodicities of the magnetic disturbances and
plutonic agitations with the solar spots. The two series of
facts-the latter connected with the cosmical forces developed
from  centres, and the former with those developed around
the surfaces, of the celestial masses of molecules-strengthen
the conclusion  derived  from  each  separately.   But the
amazing subtlety of spectroscopic analysis strikes at once at
the forces of molecules in their atomic and residual divisibilities (so to speak), and acts in such a manner as to bring
out in each ray of light the combined action of all the
varieties of matter in these masses, and to correlate and
connect both the molecules and their forces, wherever they
exist, with their analogues in distant cosmical accumulations.
For I hold that light itself is only a compound resultant of
molecular attraction and molecular repulsion; and that it is




234                FORCE ANVD NXiT UIE.
generated by, and is an equatorial product or function of,
thermic and other moleculo-chemical vibrations, in the same
manner as magnetism  is an equatorial product or function of
electricity and vice versd; all dynamic and sensible effects
of the transmissions of antithetic forces depending on the
characters of the ultimate elements and of their compounds.
For it is plain, that if the sun or any star were composed of
iron alone, or of any single chemical element known, the
characteristic lines exhibited by that substance, whether
bright or dark, would be the only ones revealed by the
definite capacities for vibration affixed to its molecules.  As
many different elements as enter into its constitution, so
many will appear when its light-that is, the sum of the vibrcations combined of the entire compound mass-is analysed.
Thus much experiment, observation, and induction teach us.
Now, when light is reduced to its ultimate elements-that is
to say, to its essential components of force-it is only found
to consist of different conditions and degrees of repulsive and
attractive principles, inasmuch as refraction and reflection
are only other terms for repulsion, partial or complete, and
absorption another for attraction, all expressing the specialized
properties of molecules, the chemical secret in their ultimate
conditions of divisibility, whatever they may be.  And it is
furthermore plain that only elements of the same sort, and
consequently vibrations of the same wave-lengths, can combine'through laws of perfect affinity, and so become homogeneous masses.  Similar laws govern the harmonies of
musical vibrations and of all matter.  The association of
heterogeneous elements immediately induces successive series
of physical conflicts, the chemico-dynamic laws governing
which are more or less known; and the violence and persistency of these conflicts are proportional to quantities and
diversities of elementary substances.  So, if the earth, or a
comet, heave from its centre, and repel portions of its interior
beyond its periphery as a responsive and synchronous action
and reaction with those occurring in the sun (between which
and the various component bodies of our system all dynamic




COSMICIL REP ULSION.                235
forms of force are most delicately adjusted), it will not hereafter appear strange that the attractive and repulsive action
so manifest in the photospheres is felt and responded to by
the minutest molecule of cognate constituents in our planet.
The dynamic properties of magnetism astonish us when they.
play between distant points, and push and pull the impulses
of human thought around the earth; but we know  they
cannot manifest these powers unless suitable connexions
between molecules exist, by which perfect compensations
or balances of force shall be restored and maintained throughout the entire volumes of cosmic repulsion and cosmic
attraction which, composed (as before proved) of molecular
increments, charge the plastic matter of the globe. Indeed,
it seems to be the effort of nature to preserve this equilibrium between the molecular forces of its different chemical
elements, which constitutes these currents in opposing directions, and which thus develops their dynamic peculiarities.
If we are astonished at these phenomena which have become
so well known by experiment and observation, how much
more shall we wonder at beholding in every line of the solar
and stellar spectra only so many electrometers, so to speak,
which with fingers of light and darkness point to an alphabet
of chemical elements, and spell out the physical history ofi
the heavens and of past time with as much certainty as the
magnetic telegraph whispers the events of the present from
nation to nation! While the simple conditions of the mag-%
netic telegraph demonstrate that molecular attraction and,
molecular repulsion, as developed in chemical compositiois
and decompositions, are the bases of electric and magnetic
force, and that they all-both primaries and secondaries-are
integrants of cosmical forces of the same characters; the
marvellous revelations of the spectrum  lead to yet more
profound mysteries, and indicate that rays of light are local
phenomena, and are capable of solution and separation, like
the elements and molecules themselves, in such a way as to
show that they are simply microscopic impulses, dynamic
vibrations, of mlolecules depending upon the capacities of




236                 FORCE AND NATURE
matter in its elementary specialities to transmit the antithetic principles of attraction and repulsion with varying and
specific degrees of velocity. In their massive conditions as
forces saturating worlds to constant tension, they appear to
flow and ebb, reach out and recede from their great central
fountains with strength or elective subtlety, as the capacities
of the molecules through which they are transmitted admit
or require.  Thus playing from  atom  to atom  and from
element to element, affecting all combinations of matter and
all worlds alike, the relative positions of which are mutually
modified by these forces as aggregates, the abstruse truth is
disclosed that chemical attractions and chemical repulsions
are but so many modifications of general cosmic polarities
mathematically measured and infused into atoms, and that
crystallization, the basis of all morphological development,
depends as much upon impulses generated in some occult
way by the most distant cosmical bodies, as it does upon the
molecules of the one wherein they aggregate and assume
forms possessing geometrical outlines and internal principles
of proportion and being.
Thus by chemical as well as by astronomical and mathematical researches, we reach the conclusion that the entire
universe combines together to establish laws for the government of a single molecule; and that, vice versa, every molecule unites its force of repulsion with that of attraction in
order to develop the sum  of cosmical potential energy, and
the general phenomenal and working conditions and capacities of nature.
29.
But reaching still more profoundly than all this, facts
conduct us beyond the mere discovery of the fundamental
elements of nature, and bring us face to face with their
mutual relations upon the grandest scale, and with their
methods of correlation and universal interaction; and by




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  237
glancing for a moment at the latter, we shall be able to corroborate the principles heretofore presented. The remarkable
bands in the solar spectrum, whose scientific import was first
suspected by Frauenhofer, and whose wonderful chemical
mysteries were subsequently brought to light by my eminent
friends Bunsen and Kirchhoff, are not only telegraphic
signals between distant spheres, but they are also the most
accurate indices of the methods by which attraction and
repulsion chain the universe together and unfold all the
dynamical phenomena whose problems are so puzzling to
thinking minds.
Every ray of sensible or insensible force, thermic, luminous,
or actinic, generated in, and appearing to be emitted by the sun
(however the impulse may reach our brain), must be considered, as it evidently is, an expression of the combined forces
of the combined sums of the elementary substances constituting
the solar mass. Hence the ray, although infinitesimal in itself,
is a compound ray, and a ray not only constituted of the vibrations incident to the generation of simple heat or simple light
or simple actinism, but of the heat and of the light and of
the actinic qualities which each and any of the individual
elements is capable of generating if acted upon alone by the
radical forces of attraction and repulsion. This is the general
principle which I wish to convey in this axiom, and which,
while it will be immediately comprehended as a self-evident
truth, will be more fully understood by discussion in the
sequel.
The molcculo-actinic force of every ultimate ELEMENT constituting the enormous volume and energies of the central
body, is therefore represented in every ray which, flaming
upon its disc, impinges upon the earth viewed also as a
mass of mixed elements subject to the same laws of combination and decomposition.  When the prism receives and
acts upon this ray (whatever the mechanism  by which it
makes its way through space), it falls apart, as if it were a
compound salt undergoing solution in some dissolving menstruum.  But it is not the matter-the molecules-of a prism




238                FORCE AND NATURE.
or of a crystal which disintegrates this invisible spectre of
compound solar force.  It is the repulsive and attractive
forces themselves pervading terrestrial molecules, which
receive or reject, transmit or refract, this pregnant impression of solar energy. The prism is suspended between two
mighty sources of antagonistic energy, each combining special
chemico-cosrnic currents the vibratory impulses of which are
alike everywhere, in sun, stars, comets, and planets; and the
individual forces and properties of the prism are exposed to
the reception, intermingling, transformation, separation, and
transmission of all the component principles of these currents.
Two conditions or opposing principles of force, springing from
the combined chemico-molecular vibrations of the two globes,
arrest and grapple with each other within the crystal; one
penetrating from above and derived from the sun, the other
antagonistic, penetrating from below, and derived from the
earth. Both these principles appear at their origin and in
their essence to be repulsive forms of energy, and are so
proven, indeed, by  their projective characteristics when
viewed as individual rays and soluble currents of active
force.
However, or by whatsoever method, these great forces of
attraction and repulsion interact between the surfaces and
centres of worlds, we will not stop here to investigate; but
it is apparent that their reciprocal action and reaction upon
each other, in virtue of their union with the chemical elements
which are aggregated into globes, not only constitute the
invisible network of nature, interlinking celestial masses,
binding everything harmoniously into a single system from
which no particle of matter can escape nor an iota of force be
lost, but that they also decompose themselves into and generate those luminous and spectral phenomena which become
sensible only, so far as we can detect, in virtue of the local
vibrations of molecules, and of atoms considered as elements
of molecules, variable conditions engendered by the variable
motions and exposures of one body within specific distances
of other bodies.




COSMICUAL REPULSION.                239
In order to show more certainly the connexion of this
principle of repulsion now under treatment, in its universal
phases and bearings, with the development of cosmic and
universal light and heat, and thereby to prove that its activity
is as constant and important a phenomenal agent in creation
as that of attraction; and to show indeed that it is a constant
associate and co-ordinate of the latter in the generation of
the widest forms of secondary force, I shall pursue this topic
somewhat further, notwithstanding that I shall have to refer
to it again in a subsequent chapter for the purpose of
confirming its accuracy by experimental data.
In like manner as a solar ray is a microscopic expression
of the molecular action of all the chemical elements in the
sun, so every ray of terrestrial repulsion is an impulse, or a
succession of impulses, derived from similar conditions existing in our own globe: and, thus constituted, these impulses
encounter at their emission similar compound principles
which, as before stated, proceeding from the vast central orb,
impinge upon the molecules of our own. The incessant
encounter and conflict of these two opposing currents of
primal force at the surface of all material forms produce those
dynamic and lateral agitations known to optical theory as
vibrations and undulations, which, observed both by Newton
and Descartes to resemble mechanical impulses upon matter,
led them to adopt physical hypotheses wholly different and
yet both containing dynamic elements of truth. The former
asserted that light is composed of attenuated and imponderable particles emitted from  glowing objects with such
prodigious intensities that, traversing space as if it were a
vacuum, at the rate (as we now know) of 185,000 miles in
a second of time, they impinge upon the retina with varying
velocities, and  thus  create the sensations of sight and
colour. The latter also assumed the universe to be filled
with an elastic fluid, called ether, of extremest subtlety
and imponderable tenuity, which penetrates all bodies and
surrounds their molecules; and this according to his view
receives and transmits vibrations from one thing to another,




240                JFORCE AND NATURE.
thus propagating light by  mechanical undulations that
impinge upon the retina and create the sensations of sight
and colour, in like manner with Newton's emission theory.
Newton imagined his luminous matter to be emitted directly
from glowing bodies, and shot like arrows into the eye.
Descartes supposed his ether to be luminiferous, and a
medium  by which mechanical impulses are communicated
in an undulatory manner, as sound is transmitted by air,
and waves by water.  The comparative merits of these
theories are not to be discussed or adjudged here.  It is
sufficient to say that Newton's views long ago yielded to the
progress of physics; and that those of Descartes, however
popular they may have been, are encountering obstacles with
every new step in molecular and analytical discovery. It is
at this point that cosmical repulsion, as a polar principle-a
positive dynamical antagonist to gravitation-a principle
entirely immaterial, but inherent and conjunct with matter,
and vibrating with attraction between molecules and from the
centre to the circumference of spheres by methods resembling
or identical with convection;-it is at this point, that cosmical
repulsion presents itself as an agent to assist in the solution
of scientific problems which have hitherto resisted inquiry.
The constant impingement and conflict of the opposing
forces of attraction and repulsion upon the surfaces and
throughout the masses of cosmical bodies, as these agents
shoot in and shoot out, can primarily produce no other effect
than vibrations of molecules, varying in degrees of intensity.
The necessary consequences of these vibrations are instantaneous developments of light, heat, electricity, magnetism,
actinism, and, as matter becomes more extensively and continuously agitated, of sound and mechanical motion.
Space being, as I hold, absolute vacuum, no ether, either
ponderable or imponderable, exists there. No impediment,
therefore, to the transmission of principles as subtle as the
human mind can be there encountered. Necessarily, no vibrations or undulations of a material character can possibly occur
there: no light, nor heat, nor magnetism, nor electricity, can




COS3ICWL REPULSION.                  241
be generated there.  It follows that no force can be employed
or wasted there.  Moving bodies must consequently act and
react reciprocally upon each other, as if in actual contact,
and in this way generate local phenomena in one another, as
if by mutual impact.  Worlds, as special chemical entities,
thus appear to be strictly economical in the use of the forces
with which they are charged.  Space thus appears more
clearly as an illimitable wild, where suns and planets have
been ordained to push and pull, and rush and roll around
each other, in order to unfold each other's innate capacities;
and, for the accomplishment of these wonderful ends, they
incessantly retain the primal forces of attraction and repulsion, transforming them  into local work in their individual
spheres, and into the secondary forces of light and heat, and
into the general mechanical motion by which the unstable
equilibrium  of the cosmos is sustained and perpetuated.
And since force and matter alike abhor vacuum, inertia, and
inactivity, it follows that they must for ever cling together;
and that space is only so much the more a vacuum, inasmuch
as it is constituted with negative characteristics in regard
to time, force, matter, creation, and every principle involved
in the developments of nature. The present state of experimental knowledge, when brought to bear upon this point,
seems to sustain these inductions as positive truths.
It follows naturally from these conditions that not an iota
of force of any sort-neither molecular force, mechanical
force, nor heat, nor light, nor motion in any of its " modes "can be wasted or lost in space.  Consequently, while observation and experiment both show that a dynamical element
is inseparable from cosmic light, as seen in the polarization
of the so-called "solar ray" (a phenomenon in which the
equatorial law affecting the decomposition of energy observable in impact, already spoken of in chap. viii. sec. 17, is
delicately displayed), and while all theories relative to the
origin and transmission of cosmic light and heat demand and
incorporate this dynamic element in some form, it is clear
that the hypothesis of Descartes can be no more sound at
R




242               FORCE AND NATURE.
its root than that of Newton, for the reason that the former,
like the latter, assumes an incessant and enormous emission
of the absolute working energy of the heavenly bodies, the
very energy which sustains their motions and on which the
very existence of creation depends.  Helmholtz and other
eminent authorities have shown mathematically that all the
motions of the heavens must finally cease, and the present
system of the universe sooner or later come to an end, if the
mechanical forces of the sun and stars be radiated as waste
heat into the frigid wilds of space. Fortunately, at this
point the science of chemistry steps in, and shows us, on the
contrary, that the necessities of matter cannot spare force, and
that the economy of nature will not permit its energies to
rest for an instant latent or unemployed.  This science
furthermore shows that every molecule which exists claims
and owns and uses a special quantum  of attraction and
repulsion, and that it gives away neither, and only suffers
their fluctuating exchanges of potency, and their decompositions and conversions into correlated principles, in order
to elaborate and perfect the whole machine of which it and
they constitute indestructible parts. In his treatise on Heat,
Dr. Balfour Stewart has remarked with great sagacity that
" the test of a theory consists even more in the new facts
" which it brings to light than in the facts already known
" which it serves to explain."
30.
Now, having laid down and somewhat developed these
important principles, we shall be the better enabled to comprehend and decipher the truly cosmical character of the
hieroglyphics inscribed by the lines of Frauenhofer upon
any spectrum.
Crystals being designed and built by nature and art upon




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  243
exact mechanical principles, and sustained in specific geometrical conditions by the forces of molecules-attraction acting
within their outlines from planes to centres, and repulsion
reacting from centres to angles-a series of perfect, homogeneous, transparent prisms may be regarded as a specially
effective instrument of discovery, and the most suitable one
for receiving, dissolving, and reducing to ultimate analysis
the solar and terrestrial forces which meet, coalesce with,
or reject one another within its range of action.  While
naturalists possess microscopes, astronomers telescopes, and
chemists agents and re-agents for exploring and determining
otherwise hidden conditions of matter, physicists now command instruments also for exploring and reaching those
otherwise obscure principles of action and reaction constituting force-the motive energies of matter. By extending the
limits and nomenclature of the Newtonian philosophy, so as
to recognise and embrace repulsion as a cosmical power,
this abstruse department of research will become much simplified. Absorption, so manifest and determined in the black
lines of the spectrum, receives its true physical expression
and profoundest analytical meaning-indeed, its absolute
solution-in the word attraction; for the solar ray, combining
in itself the actinic essences-the microscopic and infinitesimal
elements, so to speak-of all the forces embodied in the
sun as dynamical principles, impinges upon and penetrates
the molecules and forces of our globe as an invisible unit of
force. In contact with terrestrial matter and force the ray
splits and dissolves.  Portions of its energies at least are
attracted by and penetrate into, are absorbed by, assimilate
with, and apparently replace, other amounts of force which
simultaneously radiate from the earth as repulsion, and which
become sensible in the spectrum as bright lines or points of
reflection.  And I may be permitted here to say, in order to
set forth my views with clearness, that I think, could an
observer in the sun analyse a ray of terrestrial light by a
prism, these bright lines would be there replaced in the
spectrum  by dark ones, the solar molecules becoming in turn
B 2,




244                FOR CE AND NATURE.
excited into similar but opposite absorptive and refractive
functions.  We have reasons to infer this the more strongly
from what we ourselves observe in the sun in connexion with
the dark spots; for their number and magnitude as a whole,
are now being conclusively shown by the Kew observations, as
well as by universal magnetical data, to hold special relations
to the attractive and repulsive forces (the agents which
generate light) in other planets besides those of the earth,
Herein, I hold, lies the subtle mechanism, the occult essence,
of electrolytic and actinic vibrations, and dynamical motion:
for matter being saturated with force can hold no more than
given sums.  Repulsion and attraction, as radical energetics,
are quantitatively equal in the whole universe; and although
the several elementary substances themselves are variously
distributed in different globes and unequally charged with
these two forces, yet a globe full of force must always be
like a cask full of water; and if a quantity of cab extrca force
were thrown into it no larger than that in a ray of light, a
similar quantity must gush out. In this functional action of
force lies not only the wonderful chemical mystery of the
Frauenhofer lines, but also the secret mechanism  through
which both local material motion and eruptive and projectile
dynamics are initiated, and through which the universal
motions and phenomena of the cosmos are sustained;-all
depending, whether molecular or stellar, upon the mutual
influences of these two opposite forms of force upon each
other.  A ray of light, therefore, emanating from  any body
contains, so to speak, the veritable image and expression of
its internal and elemental constitution of matter and force.
Every chemico-spectral observation and  experiment upon
nebule, suns, planets, comets, and terrestrial elements only
confirms the truth and universality of this final language of
the prism, and of these principles which I have endeavoured
to set forth; and they prove the correlation of all celestial
mechanical force with terrestrial force and with the forces of
molecules, and demonstrate that every molecule and every
form of force is linked with universal gravitation through the




COSMICAL REPULSION.                  245
equally universal principle of cosmical repulsion. New and
abstruse as this subject may now  appear to be as I have
attempted to treat it, I feel quite sure that when globes are
studied as masses of chemical elements constantly acting and
interacting as if in contact, and exciting each other's individual forces as if by direct impact-by " striking fire," so to
speak, against or with each other; thus viewed, the present
obscurity of this subject will, I think, greatly diminish.  But,
as it will be referred to again in a subsequent chapter, further
remarks upon it will be here omitted.
31.
There is not a fact or law in optics or physics, so far as I
now know, which will not happily coalesce with, and consoli(date, this final generalization.  Even that fundamental law
of Kepler, termed "the first law  of motion," immediately
gravitates within the range of this demonstration; and the
principle of the "sufficient reason," as an explanation of
the fundamental phenomena of motion, becomes intuitively
apparent to common sense independently of logic or the
mathematics: for force, playing between the centres of the sun:and earth, creates and causes " all motion to be naturally rectilinear and uniform," inasmuch as molecular and mechanical.motions are embraced within, and determined by, cosmical
tprinciples which act and react as definite units of direct,energy.  Moreover, the great second law  of Newton, declaring "all action and reaction to be equal and opposite,"
will be here found to stretch beyond simple rational meAchanics, and regulate the development of forms and functions;of the subtlest and sublimest character.
Even the entire range of physical discussion and mathematical development, so acutely bestowed upon the latter law
)y I)'Alenbert and Lagrange, and the profound system  of




246                FORCE AND NATURE
principles so prophetically initiated by Daniel Bernouilli, fall
legitimately within this generalization; all tending to confirm the final truths that a pure, abstract, radical force of
cosmical repulsion exists, and is associated with cosmical
attraction, i.e. gravitation, and that the fluctuation of these
two universal principles with each other in molecules and in
suns is necessary to maintain the present mechanical and
phenomenal constitution of nature.
Thus, at last, is this part of our sublime and laborious task
completed, and the corner-stone of a new and all-embracing
philosophy is laid. Rather might it be said that the cornerstone of a new tower is here planted in order to assist and
excite scholars to press forward the completion of an imperfect
temple the fashion of which was foreshadowed in the abstractions of Thales and Anaximander, outlined in the principles of Euclid and Archimedes, founded in the facts and
observations  of  Copernicus, Galileo, Tycho  Brahe, and
Kepler, reared in the demonstrations of Newton, and the
inside and the outside of whose mighty walls have been
overlaid with pearl, and ivory, and precious stones by an
immortal host of mathematicians and  astronomers, from
the youthful Horrocks to Le Verrier, John Herschel, and
Frederick Struve.
In order to indicate the existence and potential functions
of cosmical repulsion as a pure and positive universal reactionary force-as much a pure and fundamental principle
as molecular repulsion-and to prove it to be the same principle, augmenting like attraction of gravitation in proportion
to masses and the inherent capacities of matter, we have
found it necessary to discuss this force in its relations to
matter in every sense and form; otherwise it could only have
been treated as a metaphysical abstraction: whereas it is no
more a metaphysical abstraction than molecular attraction
molecular repulsion, or gravitation, neither of which can be
demonstrated or clearly apprehended to be forms of potential
force, except through  their specific action  upon matter.
Inasmuch as these various conditions of fundamental force




COSMICAL REPULSION.                247
interchange their action with each other by fixed laws, combining, decomposing, and reacting to constitute central forces
and dynamic energy, to bind molecules and worlds together,
and inspire nature with mechanical and universal activity,
to develop motion and all other expressions and modes of
force, even to engender morphological energy and govern
developments of life, they form diversified subjects of study,
and will be progressively unfolded in subsequent chapters.




CHAPTER X.
MECHANICAL FORCE.
1.
THERE is a difference between mechanical force and "mechanical power," as this latter has been heretofore understood
and treated in theoretical and rational mechanics.
The term  "mechanical power" is somewhat deceptive,
inasmuch as it is very general in its meaning, and is inseparable from the idea of masses of matter in motion impelled by
some external and applied impact.  This motion once communicated, and called vis viva, or living force, sets forth an
idea of mechanical power involving strictly local conditions,
and material elements of action.
But MECHANICAL FORCE-abstract, immaterial, absolute
ENERGY-the life of the world-is different from and more
than this, and is not comprehended in the ordinary terms or
expositions of modern natural philosophy. As our discussions
have developed this subject, it consists in the compositions
and decompositions of those potential principles which, existing in all cosmical bodies as the integrals of their molecular
forces, generate and control their respective movements of
translation and rotation, all their mutual relations, and all
their internal eruptive, contractive, and periodic phenomena;
and which, so far as our planet is individually considered,
play convectively and incessantly between its centre and
space, and vice versa (as in all other bodies), effecting all




MECHANICYIL FORCE.                   249
creations and changes upon its surface, and all developments
and fluctuations of heat, magnetism, and electricity in its
interior and exterior parts, involving crystallization and every
chemical phenomenon.
I propose to devote the discussions of the present chapter
to the demonstration of mechanical force, as working and
phenomenal energy, and of its modes of action in and
through matter, in order to generate motion, induce molecules to arrange themselves into geometrical forms, effect
cohesion and solution, and excite the secondary forces into
being.
If our attempts to discover the origin and mechanism  of
natural phenomena be at first discursive, appearing doubtful
of fruitful results, and somewhat wearisome, reminding the
reader of an unsteady search after some precious thing in the
dark, the importance and profundity of the points sought
after will afford sufficient apologies for fitful and heavy
progress.  But, ever careful to step  upon  facts alone,
rejecting, as heretofore, all physical theories, we shall be
sure to arrive finally at promising conclusions and absolute
truth.
A brief survey of the field already traversed, and of the
important points established, is here necessary to refresh
the  mind  and prepare it for other equally  interesting
investigations.
2.
In the preceding chapters the elements or primal conditions of nature have been noticed or elaborately discussed;
and they have been traced from their manifestations as molecular quantities, through successive amplifications, into the
grand cosmical forms which, representing and containing so
many isolated volumes or units of attraction and repulsion,
are distributed through space, bound together, and main



250                FORCE  AND NATURE.
tained apart, by fixed laws of action and reaction upon each
other.
We have been brought clearly to comprehend that not an
atom of matter can be annihilated or lost, or can escape the
influence of all the rest; that every molecule has inherent
capacities for receiving, holding, and exchanging definite
quantities of attraction and repulsion, as pure abstract forces;
and hence that these forces are in the aggregate also, like
matter, given, fixed, and unchangeable quantities established
for accomplishing the multifarious economies of nature, as
the universe was planned and adjusted in the beginning, and
as the Creative Spirit of all things is continuously unfolding
and perfecting it.
Beyond these truths follow  also the positive deductions
that not an iota of attraction or repulsion, as final principles
of potential energy, can be annihilated or lost, any more than
an atom of matter; that all physical phenomena, whatever
their character or method of manifestation, are simple effects
of these forces associated with molecules, and of the modifications of these same forces in degree or quantity, associated and exchanging relations with each  other among
molecules; that all phenomena are definite and positive
resultants of motions between atoms and between masses of
atoms; that both the latter and former, as cause and effect,
are dependent upon swift translations of forces antithetically
through matter, thereby generating the vibrations of molecules; and that the oscillating actions of these three primal
elements with and upon each other, in varying proportions,
produce effects always depending directly upon quantities
and inversely upon distances.
By this careful tracing of nature from its primordial conditions, we discover the first dawnings of mechanical force,
and of mechanical motion; for mechanical force, as virtual
power, is really and only the measurable effect of pure
abstract potential energy (in other words, of those two forces
whose existence and character I have heretofore essayed to
demonstrate), accumulated to saturation and tension in, and




IMECHANICAL FORCE                   251
propagated through, masses of molecules, which masses are
brought to bear upon other masses, in such a manner as to
produce physical results within the ranges of observation and
numbers, and whose compositions and decompositions create
the science of Rational Mechanics.
It is not my design, however, to discuss the subject of
" rational mechanics," either in its statical or dynamical
aspects, as it is considered and -treated in ordinary disquisitions upon natural philosophy. Its mathematical elements,
and their practical developments and applications, are well
understood.  They have been elaborately  discussed and
advantageously employed, as the works of antiquity teach,
by every people from periods of earliest enlightenment to
our own times; and during the last two centuries the laws
of mechanical motion have been extended, by lofty inspirations of human genius, to the most distant regions of space,
in order to explain in rational ways the origin, architecture,
and stability of the cosmos itself. If mathematical inquiries
have thus far failed to solve the profoundest questions in
physics, instead of wonder at the incompleteness of theory
or at erroneous results of any sort, our amazement must be
only the greater at the present stretch and acquirements of
the human mind.  The origin of every science is accidental,
and its progress to a certain point necessarily empirical.
While the springs of the various branches of knowledge
appear to be distinct, and their courses to be individual and
divergent from each other; while indeed we had not formerly
sufficient data through which to suspect even their correlation; experiment, observation, and numbers leave us now no
room to doubt that all the sciences not only run parallel with
one another, but that, however diversified their aspects and
currents, all at last plunge into the same fountain of central
forces, and receive energy, life, and development therefrom.
It is in its profoundest and radical directions alone, as before
stated, that I propose to discuss this important subject.




252                FORCE AND 1NATURE.
3.
Absolute    Mechanical Force may be developed, rendered
Energy-  tangible, and applied, under the name of "mechanical power," in several different ways; and in such ways,
that all the relations of absolute energy to matter and motion
-that is to say, to material phenomena; in other words, to' work "-may be easily reduced to numerical quantities, and
brought within the practical necessities of society. Its source
and its nature, however, as an abstract and as a compound
principle, are imperfectly understood.  Its modes of action
are only known by certain effects developed and imparted by
one form of matter to another.  In nature these forms are
called elements or worlds.  When considered  as human
inventions they are called machines, and their variety is
endless.  The earth is full of them.  Nations live by them.
Civilization is unfolded by their perfection. Barbarism depends upon ignorance of their capacities or existence.  " Mechanical Force " itself, however, as abstract energy, acting  upon
and propagated through these machines, is a part of, and
springs imnmediately out of, the accumulated stores of energy,which constitute the motive and hidden forces of the planet's
centre and mass.
4.
The machines which manifest and develop this
Machines.
energy are the lever, the wheel and axle, the
toothed wheel, the pulley, the wedge, the screw, and the inclined plane.  Although these instruments are called "mechanical powers," it is now well known that neither of them
create power out of nothing; that is to say, generate force
within themselves, and of themselves, independent of a preceding and externally applied force, equal always to the result
which may proceed out of them.  Their motive energy, then,




ALECHANICAL FORCE.                   253
is derived, as a finality, from foreign sources; and we shall
hereafter discover that it proceeds out of the earth's store,
and returns into it.
Whatever the forms, functions, involutions, capacities, or
powers of these instruments, all of them are reducible to two
simple conditions or forms for receiving, accumulating, and
transmitting force. These are the inclined plane and the lever.
With this simplification and finality philosophers and mathematicians appear to have been for a long time satisfied; and
public education rested here, until recently, as if matter itself
were force, and as if an acquaintance with final principles
were unattainable.
The principles of energy involved in the development of
physical phenomena through the agencies of the inclined
plane and the lever are discovered, when reduced to their final
essences, to be respectively attrcction and repulsion.
This theorem, which I hold to be almost self-evident, may
however demand some demonstration and illustration, in
order clearly to connect established dynamical laws with the
operations and real expressions of nature.
Now, inasmuch as I have heretofore shown that this planet:
possesses definite volumes of these two fundamental forcessimple integrals of the forces of the individual molecules constituting the mass-and that not an iota of attraction or of
repulsion can be annihilated or dissipated, it follows, in order
for any act or phenomenon to appear, or for any physical
work to be effected, that these forces must vary their relations
with each other, changing place, generating temporary tension
here, and laxity or traction there, so that matter in bulk (and
necessarily as separate molecules) may be transiently deprived
of a portion of its natural quantum of attractive force-only,
however, to have this absence instantly supplied by an equal
quantum of repulsive force; and vice versa. Thus, for instance,
wherever successive amounts of either of these forces may be
locally accumulated (so to speak) in any part of the globe,




254                FORCE AND NATURE.
creating tension or contraction at limited points, this surplus
is temporarily abstracted from the rest, and must sooner or
later be restored to it, either gradually and tranquilly or
suddenly and violently.  This occurs in the movements of
the various parts of all machines, and is the secret of universal motion.
Inasmuch, moreover, as these forces possess affinity for, and
are absorbable anywhere and everywhere each respectively
into, its own special principle, and are antagonistic each to
the other; inasmuch as these two principles for ever remain
distinct and conflicting radical agents, even in all other forms
of force, and in all forms of matter, however different their
elementary characters (chemical functions seeming to act only
in such a manner as to modify the inherent capacities of
matter for differentiating and excluding, or for absorbing and
holding, more or less of one or the other of these fundamental principles of molecules, or atoms, as will be better
comprehended hereafter, or may be understood from Kekule's
idea of saturation); inasmuch as they never lose their respective identities, nor simple ultimate properties of drawing
molecules together and pushing them apart, whether they be
associated with and act in electric currents, luminous rays,
flowing sap, organic corpuscles, flying projectiles, or falling
bodies; and inasmuch as they are never in equilibrium, and
never at rest, it follows that all mechanical motion, all
secondary forces, and all phenomena in nature must spring
from quantitative fluctuations of these two forces, one with
the other, in their relations to molecules and masses; and
that these two forces are the absolute and ultimate elements
of work, and of morphological and mechanical development
everywhere, whether in the creation of crystals and globes,
in the origin and growth of plants and animals, in the lifting
and falling of weights, or in the distribution and movements.
of cosmical bodies in space.
As this planet is endowed with its own specific quantum
of working energy, according to its peculiar chemical and
general physical constitution, so is every other cosmical body,




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   255
according to its own special composition: and what is said of
one will equally apply to all the rest, for there is only just so
much matter and just so much force in nature, both being
limited, and both being continually employed, acting and
reacting, to evolve the local phenomena which take place in
comets, planets, suns, and systems throughout the universe,
which phenomena in turn become active agencies in, and the
mutual excitors of, the celestial motions.
Such is the field, such are the conditions, such the circumstances under which mechanical energy exists in naturesuch the fountains from which all mechanical power is drawn,
and into which all again in turn falls; so that not a shuttle
is driven or hammer lifted by steam, or waterfall, or human
arm, or foot of beast, not an arrow shot from bow nor ball
from gun, the force to execute which act is not derived from
those exhaustless volumes of attraction and repulsion that
constitute the central forces of the globe.
5.
The laws which preside over the affinities of
Affinities of
Matter and matter with forces, and of forces with matter,
Force.    involve inquiries of exceeding delicacy.  Thus far
in our discussions we have obtained more or less clear and
definite ideas of space, of matter, of molecular attraction
and molecular repulsion, of cosmical attraction and cosmical
repulsion; and of the actual relations of each of these entities
to the other, as crude and available elements (so to speak)
lying at the base of physical nature and constituting the
materials used and directed by some Intelligent and Commanding Agency to execute work, develop motion, heat, light,
and other secondary forces. These elements, passing from
regions of metaphysics into those of geometrical design and
of solid mechanics, become the phenomenal agents of creation,
and subjects of experimental study and of academic teaching.




256                FORCE ANVD iN.TURE.
From  this point of view it will be discovered that these
elementary materials of nature, whatever their origin, lie
midway between the Commanding Intelligence which employs and directs them  and the designs unfolded and the
work effected by them. Efforts to acquire an accurate knowledge of the correlations of the first with the last constitute
the highest mission of the physical sciences; while to trace
the connexion of the complex and manifold  phenomena.
springing from such correlations with the Great Metaphysical
Agency which originated and overrules them all must always
be the final aim of the purest philosophy. The former is a
strictly positive and inductive study. To aim here, however,
at such a development as the latter would be both premature
and out of place. I therefore only allude in this connexion
to that Supreme Intellectual Principle as a universal presence
in nature, reserving a general treatment of this subject for a
final chapter.  Confining myself in the present chapter to
strictly physical investigations, I shall proceed to elucidate
the mode and mechanism by which attraction and repulsion,
those abstract immaterial entities which link mind witl
matter, and infuse or transform the spirit and power of the
Creator into dynamical, geometrical, morphological, and vital
functions, act through atoms, molecules, and masses, in order
to initiate vibration and oscillation, evolve mechanical motion,
originate the secondary forces of heat, light, electricity, and
magnetism, with their polarities, and bring forth unending
successions of other phenomena from apparent chaos.
6.
Motion and    Miotion of molecules is the first sensible or 2e'Polarity.   ceptible effect of the influence of force upon
matter, or of the relations of matter and force; that is to say,
of the subjugation of crude physical material to metaphysical
and phenomenal working power.




JM1ECHANIC.AL FORCE.                 2 5 7
We see and learn this radical dynamic fact by microscopic
aid in acts of crystallization; and in these acts the two
fundamental forces which have heretofore been described
clearly display opposite and definite functions.  These forces
invariably direct their energies in the same manner, to similar
ends, and always develop identical mechanical results.  It
matters not whether the results be symmetrical or amorphous, complete or abortive.  The motive act is unique.
The initial design of nature is the same in all. The final
and finished work in crystals is the sum and expression of
all the molecular forces of attraction and repulsion expended
upon them, whether their construction be perfect or imperfect.  Geometrical form, metaphysical preconception, intellectual design, morphological and mechanical activity-in a
word, all the principles of creation as we trace and behold
its unfoldings —coexist and combine with the action of these
forces everywhere, wherever their energies or influences can
be detected; and observation traces their uniformity of action
upon molecules from  the infinitesimal motions revealed by
microscopes to the grandest mechanical results unfolded in.
the motions of the celestial masses. Molecules, according to
principles definitely specialized and unchangeably inherent
in each of the known elements of nature, demand, accept,
and absorb these radical forces in variable volumes.  And in
virtue of some inherent directive principle, of certain numerical laws of union and dynamic conflict between these two
forces emanating from a central molecule; in virtue of such
inherent laws of action and reaction of force, molecules
arrange themselves into amplifying accretions until the basic
elements are exhausted upon which attractionl and repulsion
exert their respective action and reaction, as the mechanical
and working radicals of creation.
It is here that we catch the first glimpse of the influence
of force upon matter, and receive the first clear conception
and solid knpwledge of the positive and indissoluble connexion
of one with the other.  It is here, too, that we discover the
oTigin of polarity, and obtain the first clear and definite idea
S




258                FORCE AND NATURE.
of its character. It is here that we begin indeed to comprehend that "Polarity" is only a name for a LAW which
governs the cosmical distributions and the telluric and local
translations of force; it being a constant condition-the
basis of all phenomena whatsoever-dependent incidentally
upon matter, but directly upon antipodal and antithetical
transmissions of the two co-ordinate and coefficient forces of
attraction and repulsion, from surface to centre, and from
centre to surface, alternately and incessantly, axially and
equatorially, in all matter, whatever its form, quantity, place,
or relative position to other matter; a law inseparable, as a
necessary consequence of the existence of opposing forces,
from the fundamental nature of things. Were only one molecule the subject of observation and experiment, the subtle
effect of these forces, and of their functions in generating the
initial phenomena of polarity and motion, could not be discovered.  But since molecules are not separately subjects of
observation and experiment, and can never be isolated, being
on the contrary infinite in number, the polarization of each
-that is to say, the directive action of force, or, to speak
more precisely, the antipodal and antithetic play of the
attractive and repulsive forces in and through each-becomes
not only observable in definite lines of motion and parallelism,
but traceable also to dependencies upon the combined forces;
and motions of all the rest in the globe, as voluminous sourcesof power, and upon the united energies and general principle
of polarity, existing as a unit or massive quantity, so to
speak, and constituting the directive law in the dynamic.
functions of the cosmos.  All this exists in virtue of the
cosmos being a complex and oscillating yet perfected and
self-regulating machine; and in virtue of an arrangement of
spheres compressed by attraction from the galactic poles, and
projected by repulsion through the plane of the Milky Wayspecialized physical conditions permitting no equilibrium and
no rest in any world, force, molecule, or atomic principle
which has been created.
POLARITY, then, the  principle of dual law everywhere



MIECHANICL FORCE.                  2.5 9
pervading motive force, is evidently a concomitant of the first
mechanical act in nature, and must have been simultaneously
infused into the constitution of molecules at their primal
union or endowment with force; and, as a necessary corollary, every one of its phenomena, whether observable in
matter under the influence of, or in connexion with, the
secondary forces of heat, light, magnetism, &c., is, and must
be, inseparable from molecular motion.
Now, since microscopic and atomic motion cannot take place,
be seen, or be imagined, except by the action of antithetic
forces upon several molecules, it follows that moleculare attraction and molecular repulsion must be the fundamental elements
of potential energy; that neither alone and by itself can create,
induce, or awaken successive and continuous phenomena out of
nothing or vis inertice; and hence that both as ultimate principles are the mysterious powers which, springing from some
inexhaustible source, glide into, grasp, and move molecules in
opposite directions, and mould them into crystalline forms.
This source we have  already indicated  in preceding
chapters to be the massive sums of energy stored in each
world for its own special uses, which sums in turn are the
simple aggregates of the forces of the individual molecules
that are associated as chemical elements, and that constitute
the entire masses of these globes. The manner in which these:
forces act and re-act, are apparently decomposed and reunited, and consecutively exchange their functions so as to
perpetuate motion, develop multifarious phenomena, and still
never to dissipate their energies, will appear with ample
distinctness in the sequel.
7.
This initiative act of the creative forces, so demonstrable
by microscopy, to which I have referred, and which accompanies the first appearance of matter and solid form in their
s2




260                FORCE AND NAB'URE.
sudden birth from chaos, is a purely mechanical phenoinenon.
It occurs in the same manner in every one of the sixty-four
elements of nature which can be reduced by any experimental means to solid conditions. Force suddenly entering
and energizing a given point, an instantaneous elective influence darts from this central molecule, which influence is
inoculated more or less rapidly into all other molecules
possessing similar chemical properties; and the general
fundamental and initial forces of attraction and repulsion
pass through polarization into cohesion and crystallization,
geometrical development, and substantial creation. All elemental materials are acted upon more or less alike by these
fundamental forces; and thus the latter appear to develop
themselves into agents of cohesive and formative energy on
one hand, and of projectile and destructive energy on the
other. For at the same instant when a crystal springs into
being, a radical and repulsive force-not heat, nor cold, nor
magnetism per se-projects molecules from its centre into its
angles and pyramids, and determines its cleavages; while
attraction smooths its planes, determines its density, complicates its capacities for refrangibility, and binds its shortest
axes to that same central molecule which first inoculated the
entire crystalline mass with mechanical energy. As a result
of this process, as a concomitant of this primal molecular
motion, heat, cold, magnetism, electricity, or light may and do
appear so sensibly as to suggest the possibility of the sudden
transformation of our radical forces into other and new forns
of energy.
The fundamental forces which  initiate  motion  among
molecules under the microscope are, therefore, no other than
those which initiate  and  propagate motion  everywhere;
which originated, or rather developed, themselves into mechanical energy in the beginning; and which perpetually
create and maintain it as the veritable working power
of nature, giving birth to form  and life, and laying the
foundations of science, art, and civilization..Now, therefore, since we know by experimental study and




MECHANICA2L FORCE..                 261
general observation how broadly and profoundly these principles of mechanical force and motion extend-an extent,
indeed, so great that the entire concrete globe (at least, the
solid parts thus far explored) appears to be only a conglomerate of crystals either perfect or amorphous, including every
element in some combination or other;-since all this is
known, we discover that the crystalline structure of our
planet is of itself one vast storehouse of composite, mechanical, and convertible energy.
8.
It is here, while desirous to avoid repetition, and at the
risk of appearing desultory in this branch of my discussions
that I am compelled to reiterate certain data, in order to'
correlate them  with the compound action of those agencies
which have been heretofore treated of in their broadest
aspects and in a separate sense, as distinct entities with
potential functions linked with matter, and both of which
are ready, so to speak, to burst into activity, and to unfold
through their conflicts the varied phenomena of the cosmos.
Comprehending with clearness the important facts stated
in the last section as definite steps in the development of our
analysis, and looking still further into the interior of the
earth in the light of any and every theory of its physical
constitution, we discover its central energies to be allied to
its molecular conditions, whatever these conditions may be,
whether solid or fluid.  If solid, we may know the laws and
quantities of force involved in their. solidification, as certainly
as we know those exhibited in the condensation of molecules
under the microscope.  If fluid, we know  with equal certainty the crystalline changes of which this fluid is capable,
and which it may sooner or later undergo, whatever the name
or nature of its ultimate elements. The facts developed in
chemistry and mineralogy indicate that the potential energy




262 6FORCE AND NATURE
entering into these physical processes, and ending in concrete
and crystalline creations, whatever they may be, is measu —
rable, definitively exact in quantity, and absolutely dynamical
in character.
By the same method of inductive research, adhering rigorously to laws and evidence discovered by physical, chemical,
and mathematical analysis-purely experimental and exact
inquiry-we know that every gaseous element, whether embodied in air or sea, or expelled from  the bowels of the
planet, is subject to the action of the same mechanical
energy.  Oxygen, for instance, an element constituting more
than half of the measurable and ponderable matter of the
globe, combines and crystallizes, or is capable of doing so, in
some manner, with its multifarious associates. Nitrogen,
hydrogen, and carbon submit to similar action, as nitre, ice,:and diamonds testify. Now the pure force-the vis viva-the
mechanical energy which all these elements are capable of
absorbing, holding, appropriating, employing, discharging, and
exchanging with each other, as they pass from  one state to
another, as they are held in expansion or rendered solid, is, as.a cosmical volume, neither more nor less than a given quantity to which no others can be permanently added, and from
which none can be permanently abstracted; so that their
share of the terrestrial aggregate is ever the same, and equally
liable to vanish and reappear, shift and fluctuate with all the
rest, in order to constitute the working energy of the planet
as an isolated unit or volume in space.
If we turn from the gaseous and aqueous envelopes, and,
penetrating the earth's crust, search for the secrets within its
bowels, we are no less interested and instructed by similar
revelations from these quarters.  Not an elemental particle,
either of silicate, sulphur, or metallic vapour, cast forth by
plutonic eruptions at any period in our planetary history has
escaped the grasp of these pre-established polar forces.  For,
more omnipotent and general than special chemical affinities, they dart through all matter with equal: speed, guide
all motion with uniform  certainty, and stamp mechanical




MIECHANICAL FORCE.                  263
activity, geometrical symmetry, intellectual design, and
manifold possibilities, upon  every molecule  which  even
apparent chaotic confusion may hurl from the centre of our
"sphere.
Hence we discover and conclude that there is not a molecule, whatever its chemical properties, from the outermost
boundaries of the gaseous envelope to the centre of this globe,
which is not the subjugated and menial servant, so to speak,
of the cosmno-mechanical forces; which does not accept the
influences of these agents with instant celerity -and which,
vibrating in virtue of their rapidly varying tensions, does not
yield them with similar promptitude, when the equilibrium
of nature elsewhere requires such resignations.  Thus, one
element in this varied storehouse of forms and creations is
ever ready to pour, and is incessantly at work in pouring, its
overflowing energies into another, in consequence of their
conditions of physical connexion and dependence and of their
mutual relations of demand and supply-all minor conditions
and relations appearing as eternally shifting necessities in
virtue of cosmical conditions and relations.  These latter,
being universal, are consequently supremely potential; and
the varying functions of the former thus become linked with
the ellipticity of all planetary orbits, and with the excentric
position of controlling bodies in those orbits. The functions
of attraction and repulsion viewed as molecular entities or
attachments, and as subjects of incessant quantitative changes,
are, through the influence of these outlying and overruling
cosmico-physical circumstances, necessarily and unavoidably
made to become causes and affections of polarity-that is
to say, of combining and decomposing activities possessing
simultaneously opposite directive characters; and such polarities and activities, studied in the light of general observation
and of experimental and applied physics, become in turn theexhaustless fountains and currents of energy (exhaustless 
because incessantly transformed into one another) which not
only push and pull molecules under the microscope, thus
initiating mechanical motion and the work of crystallization,




264               FORCE  AND N  TURE.
but also push and pull masses of these molecules and
crystals, multiplying power as the latter aggregate in bulk
and receptive capacity, and running through every grade of
matter and motion, from the tiniest wheel and axle to the
mightiest stars and the universal firmament of heaven.
9.
Identity of  Of the final cause and certain origin throughout
Causea    s and    pe and matter of the phenomena of polarity
Origin of Mole-              
cular and os- and motion as the dual and inseparable antecemical Motion. dents of all other phenomena, and of all mechanical
and morphological developments in nature-the fundamental
points specified and involved in this vast generalizationthere can scarcely be room for doubt in the mind of any
physicist who has thoroughly examined the subject. Observation and study in various physical directions are steadily
tending to place these truths beyond question.  In order,
however, to establish them positively, and to render incontrovertible every successive point gained in our analysis,
I present in this connexion a physical fact, the discovery
of which is due to Laplace, which fact (even if somewhat
modified by recent analyses) may be justly ranked among the
most important which mathematical research has added to
our present stores of knowledge. The weight and bearing of
this discovery will be seen in its manifold consequences both
in molecular and cosmical results, as we proceed to search
into the sources and delineate the character and action of
mechanical power. And even should the error exist in the
deductions of Laplace which has been asserted to exist by
Hansen and Adams (apoint upon which mathematicians do
not agree), the general result of the calculations and theories
will not alter the bearing of the fact as I wish to apply it,
inasmuch as I hold that the interior forces of the planet
execute the work effected upon its surface, and that no force,




JMECHANICAL FORCE.                  265
notwithstanding all its changes and fluctuations of function,
can be radiated into space, and dissipated or alienated from
the matter of the globe.
It appears from certain deductions of the immortal author
of the " Mecanique Celeste," founded upon the lunar observations of Hipparchus (B.C. 150), and upon those of modern
astronomers-observations  made at an interval of 2,000
years, furnishing consequently as a basis of computation
2,000 revolutions of the earth around the sun, and more
than 730,500 revolutions upon its own axis; —it appears
by the deductions of Laplace from  these data, that only
the slightest changes occur from year to year in the length of
the sidereal day; that while the former, the orbital motions
developing the sidereal year, never change (a point on which
all agree), the latter, that is the diurnal rotations, show a
possible loss of -g-oth of a second of time in the course of
twenty centuries.  Hansen of Gotha, Adams of England, and
Delaunay of France, however, in revising the analysis of
Laplace upon the lunar influences, have reached the conclusion that the earth loses a larger fraction of a second in each
sidereal day; so that they, and those who rely upon their
accuracy rather than upon that of Laplace, suppose that there
has been an absolute retardation in the earth's movements of
about the -l-Ath of a second at most during the last twentyfive hundred years. But instead of supposing the force represented in this loss of rotatory motion to have radiated from
the planet, and to have been absolutely dissipated in the
interstellar spaces as waste heat, some of them  at least,
adopting Mayer's hypothesis, imagine it to have been consumed within the planet's own boundaries in the friction
of the tidal currents upon the bottoms of the seas.  In
order to set forth clearly and fairly the uncertain results of
modern calculations upon this point, and to show  indeed
that the calculations of Laplace may not finally be found to
be more inaccurate than those of his successors, I will cite
the closing passages of a treatise on Astronomy just published
by my friend Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, which may be con



'266                FORCE AND NATURE.
sidered  to express the latest and most mature  scientific
-opinion upon this subject.  Lockyer says: "As the tidal
" undulation does not move so rapidly as the earth does, as
"it is regulated by the moon, it appears to move westward' while the earth is moving eastward; and it has been sug-:'.:gested that this apparent backward movement acts as a
"'brdke on  the earth's rotation, and that, owing to  the
" effects of tidal action, the diurnal rotation is, and has' been, constantly decreasing in velocity to an extremely
minute extent.  At all events, if the sidereal day be assumed
"to be invariable, it is impossible to represent the moon's true
"'place, at intervals of 2,000 years apacrt, by the theory of
"'gravitation.  On this assumption, the moon, looked upon
"as a timepiece, is too fast by 6" or 12 seconds (nearly) at
the end of each century.  This may be due to the fact
" that our standard of measurement of the sidereal day is
" too slow; and it has been calculated that this part of the''apparent acceleration of the moon's mean motion may be' accounted for by supposing that the sidereal day is shorten-' ing, in consequence of tidal action, at the rate of I-th part;
"of a second in 2,500 years."
In the address delivered February 9, 1866, by Warren De
la Rue, Esq., as President of the Royal Astronomical Society,
on the occasion of the presentation of the Gold Medal to
Professor Adams, Director of the Cambridge Observatory, he
says: "After the thorough investigation which the problem
" of the secular equation of the moon's motion has received
at the hands of so many distinguished mathematicians, there
" can no longer be any question as to the correctness of the
" value of the coefficient determined by Mr. Adams and M.
" Delaunay. But here comes a difficulty, which, however, in' no way casts any doubt on Mr. Adams' theory; it is this
f that the coefficient 57", or 6'11", as M. Delaunay has made' it by further developing the series, does not account for the
" amount of the secular acceleration as shown by observation.
"It is'perfectly true, notwithstanding some uncertainty as to
"- the actual date and place of the ancient solar eclipses, and also




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   267' as to the correctness of the records of certain lunar eclipses,
"that Professor Hansen's value of the secular acceleration,' namely, 12 18", accords better with these phenomena than
"the smaller number 6"..
We thus see," continues the President in the course of
this able address, "that the re-examination of Laplace's theory
" of the secular equation by Mr. Adams has indirectly led to
"a more formal investigation of how far the effect of the sun' and moon on the protuberances of the great tidal wave may
"produce a retardation of the earth's rotation equivalent to
"the difference between Hansen's coefficient, 12'557", and
"Adams' and Delaunay's value, 611"."
The accuracy or the inaccuracy of the calculations or
opinions of either one or the other of these distinguished
authorities is not a point to be questioned or introduced at
length into this discussion. The bearing of these differing
analyses and of the opinions of their authors, however
they may conflict with each other, is the same upon my
position and my arguments: for while Laplace found that no
motion was absolutely lost or force wasted in space, Delaunay
and others conclude that whatever appears to have been lost,
has not really been so; but, on the contrary, that its equivalent, as heat, has been converted into friction and consumed
within the envelopes of our planet.
Such physical discoveries, based upon the observations of
Hipparchus, are indeed among the noblest fruits of recent
research; and I introduce them in this connexion in order
to unite the larger and smaller points of my discussion with
each other, to determine as the subject is developed the
identity of both the origin and the causes of molecular and
cosmical motion, and to show the means employed by nature
to conserve the potency of her energies.
That motion-the embodiment or representative of vworkthe phenomenal expression of mechanical power  can be
reduced to exact quantity, definable in numbers, after such
expenditures of energy upon a ponderous mass of molecules
like our globe during a period of 2,000 years, the results




268                FORCE AND NT'URE
of which can be seen through the calculus with one eye,
so to speak; while the working of the selfsame energy
upon the selfsame molecules can be detected and defined
with the microscope by the other eye, and this work be
measured and computed also;-these facts are a marvel as
pregnant with future developments of knowledge, as they are
at first startling to human comprehension. Discoveries and
results so wonderful, so opposite, and still so cognate, phenomena so universal yet united and inseparable, bring us
face to face, in the present state of scientific inquiry, with
every "dynamical theory" which treats of "heat" as an
ultimate "cause" or "mode of motion," or as the radical
principle of mechanical energy; or which treats of motion
and radiation, or of the dissipation of energy, anywhere or
everywhere. But as my object is strictly to avoid the discussion of hypotheses, and only to seize upon well-observed
and controlling natural phenomena  and upon  authentic
experimental and mathematical facts in order to bind them
indissolubly with the final causes of their origin and identity,
I allude to theories in general only for the purpose of
expressing my dissent from  all which have been hitherto
announced.
10.
Up to this point, we have reached two positive positions;
one of a microscopic, the other of a cosmical character. Both
concern motion, as primal and initiative, or as final and
accumulative, functions and effects of force. In the first, the
ultimate action of attraction and repulsion as final and radical
molecular entities is not only distinguishable, but also seen to
swell gradually, and more or less rapidly, into measurable
quantities.  In the last, the sum  of all the molecules constituting the planet itself, and the sum  of the individual




'lMECHANVICAL FORCE.                269
forces of these molecules, constituting on one hand cosmical
attraction, and on the other hand cosmical repulsion (the
latter constituting the mighty problem for the solution of
whose secrets the theories of phlogiston, caloric, latent heat,
elastic force, have in turn been originated), become so vast,
and enter into such relations to space, and time, and the
complicated mechanism  of the cosmos, as to be subjects of
plain observation and ot exact measurement and calculation
also. They become, furthermore, I hold, the initial and co-efficient principles of a solid system of mechanical philosophy;not disjointed negations in hypotheses founded upon gravitation
as a unique force counteracting inertia, or exciting it into
activity and modifying or annulling some foreign projectile
impulse; nor upon heat filling space and saturating a universal luminiferous ether; but co-ordinate elements in a system
of ultimate truth, neither of which elements alone, and unrelated to the other, is capable of producing or explaining any
of the constant or periodic phenomena that methodical observation and experimental study are successively exposing,
embracing chemical affinity, electricity, magnetism, light, and
even heat itself. The single positive term in the present
theories of celestial mechanics, and its negative, vis inertice,
have been sufficiently noticed already. The assumption that
attraction in any degree, in conflict with vis inertice, or
nothing, should or can initiate or create and perpetuate
motion, heat, &c. indefinitely, and develop all known microscopic or cosmical phenomena, is not only open to gravest
doubts, but at this stage of our discussions begins to take
the shape of an absurdity. Indeed, the information we now
possess, founded upon observation and experiment, and upon
the application of the mathematics to positive data, plainly
indicate that some other radical principle of energy besides
attraction must be at work in matter to produce the changes
which are incessantly taking place around Us and in the
distant regions of space.




270                 FORCE  1ND N1ATURE.
11.
tityofCos  It will not be disputed in the present state of
Identity of Cosmical an of  knowledge that cosmical motion is mechanical
Mechanical
Enery anid   motion, or, vice versa, that mechanical motion, in
3Motion,   whatever form observed, is cosmical motion subdivided and distributed wherever one mass of matter is
dislocated and locomotive upon or around another mass,
however small or large these masses may be.  Neither will
it-be denied that cosmical motion is effected by the activity
of voluminous energies inherent in and circulating through
and saturating cosmical masses as the sum of their atomic
life, so to speak, or of their molecular forces, acting and
reacting upon each other, as a general system of accurately
adjusted but oscillating powers.  Hence, minor quantities.
of dynamical motion, and all phenomena developed upon
the surface of any cosmical body-the earth for instance
-whether observable by microscopes, or in tides, waterfalls,.
wheels, levers, complicated constructions, or in animal muscles,.
are clearly effects of inductions and absorptions of so much
cosmical force, drawn out of the general mundane reservoir,.
as may be required to perform definite local work; and this
cosmical force is hereby converted into the local phenomena.
of creation. The results of motion are equivalent, I hold,,
to the sum of the two radical forces that initiate and create,
it, whether in the obedient molecules which in microscopic
fields spring to, and arrange themselves around, crystalline
centres, converging to and diverging from such centres upon
exact geometrical and mechanical principles of action and
reaction; or in planets, simple aggregated masses of these
same molecules, that spring to and arrange themselves around
cosmical centres, converging to and diverging from such
centres also upon the same exact principles of'action and
reaction, so demonstrable by mathematics in all geometrical
forms or conditions of matter and force. That these principles
operate in their cosmical amplitudes in a similar manner as in




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   271
their microscopic infinitesimals is proved by the approximative
computations of Laplace, Hansen, and Adams: wherefrom it
becomes apparent that the forces which cause the earth's rotations upon its axis and its revolutions around the sun are so,
definite in quantity and effect, as dynamical energetics, that
this vast globe of heterogeneous elements has only lost, the-.:oth part of a second of time, according to the former, or the
6-Vth of a second according to the latter, in the sum of all its,
motions for 2,000 years.  During this period the planet
itself has travelled through space, under the potencies of its;
own attraction and repulsion, reacted upon by solar attraction
and repulsion, not far from one trillion, one hundred and
ninety-three billion, eight hundred and four million, nine
hundred and sixty thousand miles (1,193,804,960,000), while.
every point upon its equator has rolled additionally, during
the same period, about 5,332,000,000 miles in the course of
730,500 revolutions upon its axis.  Such is only a fragmentary part of the work performed by the earth viewed as a
wheel in the machinery of the solar system. The periods of
axial rotation having been comparatively unchangeable for
2,000 years, and those of heliocentric revolution wholly so,.
it becomes self-evident that the inherent forces and absolute
gravity of the terrestrial mass engaged in these motions has
not changed to any perceptible degree-that is to say, that
no measurable amount of matter or of force has been dissipated nor added, from year to year, during this long epoch.
now, since the absolute weight and forces of the planet's
mass are only the absolute weight and forces of all the
different elements combined and calculated in the aggregate,,
as a unit and mean quantity; and since Newton's second
"Law of Motion," viz. that "action and reaction are always,
equal and opposite," is incontrovertible and of universal
application; it follows, if the quantity of attractive force has
suffered no dissipation, that the quantity of repulsive force
has not altered either.  Since we know that molecules and
their radical forces are allied and inseparable, that atoms are
points specifically saturated with attractive and repulsive




272                F'ORCE AND NATURE.
forces, and that under all ciicumstances they maintain the
same general quantitative relations to each other, this important fact is the more positively established. Moreover,
every  experiment, observation, and  deduction  assists to
demonstrate that these two orders of motion-one of the
molecule, the other of the planet (a simple aggregation, as we
all know, of the same molecules)-are identical, and resolve
themselves into attraction and repulsion; which, differing
only quantitatively, compose and decompose their functions,
so as to become the very mechanical energy which is transmitted through the lever and inclined plane from one mass of
matter upon the earth's surface to another, like a fluid or like
the diffusive properties of gases, and which everywhere acts
in manifold ways and with instantaneous effect to develop
the countless phenomena of physics, and execute the entire
work of nature, of animal necessity, and of human ingenuity.
Lest this statement of a physical truth may not be immediately comprehended by those who study nature from standpoints different from those which I have endeavoured to foreshadow, it may be here remarked that I regard the action and
the reaction of pure abstract force through matter and machines,
in virtue whereof the movements of both the latter are
effected, to be similar to the flowing of liquids; and I hold
that either of the elements of force is capable of transmission
through matter by processes of the subtlest delicacy, in like
manner as fluids are capable of transmission through tubes,
or the magnetic element through conductors; and that general
material motion is a simple result of the translation of these.
two forces in bulk, so to speak, in one direction or another,
up or down, in the aspect of a push or ofea pull, as one or the
other of these antagonistic forces predominates in its tensions
and in its specialities of function. Either one or the other,
when it actively seeks to unite with its cognate, or to separate
from its antithetic, constitutes the cause of motion, because it
sweeps matter and masses along with it in its course. This
is the general expression of a truth which has been stated in
antecedent chapters.  But as we are now searching into the




M HCHANICGL FORCE.                   273
occult causes of motion and dynamical laws, both molecular
and universal, and are endeavouring to reach the collateral
secrets of the conservation and convertibilities of force, the
fact may bear repetition in order to bring more distinctly into
view  another and a correlative fact, which will more fully
appear hereafter, that the transmission of these forces in
opposite directions constitutes those compound conditions of
motion which resolve simple mechanics into phenomenal
physics.
Now, since the cosmos is constituted of separate bodies,
each of which is composed of chemical elements differing
more or less in quantity and character, and charged with
forces of its own; and since all these bodies are simultaneously rushing either to combine or to separate their forces,
darting from molecule to molecule, from hemisphere to hemisphere, and from centre to surface and vice versd, with subtlest
delicacy and instantaneous rapidity, as they approach and
recede from  one another; it follows that rotation and mechanical motion, as general or simple phenomena, are the
results of the  subtle  action  and  reaction  (a compound
function) of the three general elements of nature, —matter,
repulsion, and attraction. The interferences and conflicts of
these three conditions of nature, incident to general and
molecular motion, end in their universal decomposition, and
in their transformation and development into other principles, as heat, light, form, &c., the elemental laws of whicI
I trust to be able to unfold as these discussions advance.
12.
Thus, from  all which precedes, it clearly follows that a
fixed quantity of potential energy exists in this planet-a
capacity for performing a definite amount of motion; and
that, for the last 2,000 years at least, the capacity of the
T




274                FORCE AND NATURE.
planet for work, and the mechanical work really effected
by its contained energies as an individual wheel in the
mechanism of the cosmos, have as a whole undergone little
or. no alteration.  It would not indeed be too much to
say that the conclusions derived from  the lunar theory,
under the analyses of Laplace, and of Adams Hansen, in no
way favour any hypothesis which assumes for a basis, or
admits as a consequence, the dissipation or the exhaustion
of the actual working energies of the planet or of the universe.
If I do not here discuss exhaustively the views of Sir William
Thomson upon the "dissipation of energy" —views which
have many able advocates-it is because I wish, for the
present at least, to avoid this discussion; since it would be out
of place, and since the main object of this work is to reach
points from  which such doctrines may be examined in a
clearer light than the present state of physical knowledge
admits of.
From what has preceded, then, it will be seen that all the
work performed in the earth, as an isolated cosmic mass and
as a limited reservoir of energy, from the motion, arrangement, and cohesion of individual molecules in the crystallization of various elements to the. motion and products of
machines and waterfalls, from the motions of matter within,
upon, and around the planet to the motions of the planet
itself upon its axis and around the sun, must be executed by
forces embraced within itself. And since no physicist will
admit that a single molecule has ever dropped out of the
globe or been annihilated, the preceding deductions may be
considered a self-evident theorem; for every one of the sixtyfour or more elements constituting the mass of the planet
is specifically endowed with its own combining and resolving
powers: and since their crystallizing characters exhibit their
ultimate capacities for holding mechanical energy, as an
entity and fixed quantity, we may clearly conclude that the
earth cannot spare, and will not alienate, any of its appropriated energy.  The simple manner in which this prodigious
volume of energy is distributed and employed upon the




MECHANICAL  FORCE.                  275
surface of the planet, and the progressive developments of
matter into form effected by its oscillating activities, we shall
comprehend hereafter.
This truth, therefore, becomes apparent, that as motion is
the first perceptible physical effect of the influence of force
upon matter-that is to say, of attraction and repulsion upon
molecules, by which influence each becomes subjugated to
and affiliated with the other (a phenomenon seen to unfold
under the microscope, from inchoate into measurable terms)so also motion accumulates and assumes sublime developments when molecules and their respective forces have combined and cohered into cosmical quantities, thus presenting
endless themes of study to chemists, geologists, astronomers,
and philosophers.
13.
Up to this stage of our inquiry, the elements of nature have
been treated as ultimate and chaotic conditions of being, as
abstract states and capacities of matter and force, out of which
were to spring subsequent developments of a more definite and
varied character. Space, matter, and conflicting forces only
have appeared; the three latter springing seemingly from
nothing, and progressively  amplifying from  infinitesimal
molecules with their individual capacities and endowments
inhto vast expansions and multitudinous forms, the bounds of
which, though clearly fixed and limited, cannot be measured
or positively known. It is in this Space, with this Matter,
and by these Forces, that MOTION and TIME have been initiated,
in order to afford opportunity for those mechanical, organic,
vital, and intellectual designs, conditions, and events, which
have been established and successively unfolded by the Author
of Nature.
This is creation-the beginning, when the heavens and
the earth were made, and when the earth was without form
T2




276                 FORCE AND NATURE.
and void.  All geological observation establishes the fact that
there was a period when our planet was devoid of vital and
locomotive being; but that was prior to the granitic ages.
Matter and force existing (how and when we will not here
inquire), motion and time began.
14.
Material motion having been initiated by the
The Conversion
of Mechanical action of our two radical forces, and as a conseEnergy into the quence of their tendencies to act ntithetically in
Secondary
Forces through their relations to one another upon and through
otio.   molecules, and in virtue especially of the varied
characteristics of the different chemical elements-that is to
say, in virtue of the different points of saturation to which
elementary atoms can absorb and hold these forces;-these
entities and their specific laws of action and re-action having
been once initiated, their transformations into heat, light,
magnetism, and electricity would inevitably follow; and we
find that these latter types of energy do instantly appear as
secondary phenomena.  All experimental and inductive in(quiries illustrate and determine this truth; and they furthermore expose the remarkable fact that as motion initiates,
or transforms itself into, these secondary forces and phenomena, these latter in turn transform  themselves back into
motion, so that the quantity of one being known the quantity
of the others can be mathematically determined, and the
wonderful discovery be finally and surely reached, that the
mechanical energy appropriated to this planet (and to every
other cosmical body) is a fixed working quantity, which will
find its radical in cosmical repulsion, and thereby become
correlated with gravitation, the principle of stability upon
which the axis of creation, so to speak, turns.
Thus are all the forces and all the elements of nature shown
to be linked inseparably together, and to be also exact quan —




MlECIIHANICAL FORCE.                277
tities, limited by weight and measure, meted out and squared
or cubed one to the other in smallest or greatest degrees,
by an architect and geometer whose abiding-place is everywhere, and whose future plans we can learn only by what
is past.
The initial conditions of molecular attraction and repulsion
as here considered to be allied to, and to depend for successive
activities upon, the vast stores of their cosmic congenersstores which are infused antagonistically and simultaneously,
under cosmic pressure, through molecules, at first establishing molecular and atomic polarities and subtlest motion;-such
conditions, when initiated, would rapidly develop vibrations
in molecules and universal oscillations among masses; and
thus the dynamic laws and restless functions of matter and
force would be established.  The laws of action and reaction
as quantitative and relative phenomena have been numerically determined.  The mysterious mechanical energies of
nature thus resolve themselves into motion-an unique and,equally inexplicable phenomenon which exists and unfolds
itself in matter and masses in proportion to the quantities of
repulsion and attraction with which various forms of matter,can be charged. These forces-both; not one alone, but both,
although in unequal quantities-hereby manifest themselves
demonstrably as the absolute radical vires vivce. Motion being
thus the product of two antecedent radical agents, is, therefore, a compound phenomenon or function of matter; that is
to say, the two heretofore known elements of motion, action
And reaction, now become reducible to separate living principles which can not only be decomposed into attraction and
repulsion, whence motion originates, but also be shown to link
all phenomena of every class with matter and motion. These
dual principles of motion, furthermore, as expressed by action
and reaction between molecules-that is to say, molecular
attraction and molecular repulsion, the profoundest radicals
of motion-are everywhere and in all forms of matter either
converted into forces wholly unlike themselves, yet with
similar polarities, as heat, magnetism, &c.; or they generate,




2 78               FORCE AND NAT1URE.
induce, control, direct, and modify the development and action
of the latter, if these exist independently of the former as
definite quantitative entities and distinct imponderable
elements slumbering between molecules when undisturbed,
and constituting atmospheres around them, as some theorists
imagine. In either case, the latter forces universally appear
as sequences of the former, and are therefore, strictly speaking,
secondary forces. But Faraday has determined by experiment
that these secondary forces are not convertible into gravity, as
an abstract attractive force.  Yet, since they spring from
motion, are equivalents of motion, and convertible back again
into motion, as all dynamical phenomena illustrate; and since
there can be no motion or mechanical energy without repulsion, which is the essential principle of reaction, elasticity,
&c., they therefore become convertible into equivalents of this
force; and since this force is the co-ordinate and coefficient
of attraction, they finally disclose their special quantitative
relations to gravitation itself. Thus, we at last discover that
all the forces of nature are linked together; and that they
appear and vanish, blend, separate, and assume equivalents
as the economy and mechanism  of material being demand
throughout the universe of things.
Whatever views may be entertained of the ultimate identity
of the various forms of force (an important point not yet
in question, but which this development will subsequently
elucidate), if motion be closely studied in its initiation and
immediate sequences, one remarkable principle of force, that
of polarity, will be perceived to exist as a phenomenon involved particularly in attraction. For, in the first demonstrable act of motion, polarity manifests itself in directing
molecules to impinge upon each other from exactly opposite
points, thereby creating material poles, and straight lines or
axes of molecules, so to speak, extending between these
poles.  The reactionary result of the impingement of these
molecules upon each other, when they are wholly free to act, is
repulsion at right angles to these axes, or equatorial motion.
While attractive force possesses the capacity to impress




MEGCHANICAL FORCE.                  279.
molecules with equal energy both right and left of its initial
action, and to pull them into more intimate relationship from
opposite or polar directions, it also appears to possess the
capacity to decompose or neutralize itself, and instantly
vanish, in order to allow an equally positive force of repulsion to replace it as a radial and equatorial function acting
also in opposite directions, and generating a system of opposite, crucial, or antipolar currents.
When these conditions of force and matter are studied
experimentally, and when they are more distinctly comprehended in their cosmical developments also, a decided step
will have been reached in physical knowledge, from which
it may be predicated that investigations of a solid character
may be safely extended further backward and downward into
the past and occult states of nature.
Thus the most recondite forces have passed from their elementary and molecular functions into centripetal and centrifugal phenomena, and motion is transformed into material
developments and mechanical results.
15.
The emergence of order and form from chaos-that is to say.
the method of action by which the primal divisions of molecules or of masses, the first processes of segmentation, were
effected, and whereby these molecules or masses were origin
nally placed in conditions for attraction to act upon and
bring them together, in order to generate polar, crucial, radial,
and equatorial phenomena-is among the profoundest secrets
of creation. Nevertheless, the fact or assumption of their
separation equally involves the co-existence of a positive
separating force, which could not necessarily be other than
a principle of pure, abstract, universal repulsion. This is
the force which I insist is as radical as attraction, and.
co-existent, co-equal, and co-extensive with it; and which,




280                FORCE TAND NATURE.
exchanging functions with it by unceasing processes of convective propagations through matter (an inexplicable system
of compositions and decompositions of currents of pure
physical energy), maintains perpetual motion among molecules and masses throughout spheres and throughout space.
That this separating force-that is to say, repulsion-was
not alone and per se originally "heat" or "fire," in the
modern or ancient signification of these words, may be
legitimately and positively inferred; since, knowing that
matter and physical forces have been eternally the same and
unchangeable, all experimental research and observation prove
that expansion may coincide and co-exist with intensest cold
as well as with intensest heat.  Therefore neither heat nor
cold is original, radical, initial force-the true vis viva of
mechanical energy. As we shall see more clearly further on,
they are proximate results of profounder forces antecedently
at work upon and between molecules. Moreover, since experiments and observation prove that both heat and cold are, in
one sense, subordinate to polarity and motion, or at most
only co-ordinate and coincident with them, presenting phenomenal results which, when numerically computed, are found
to be equivalent to expenditures of motion, and vice versa, it
follows that heat is in reality dependent upon motion, or at
most an equivalent of motion, and therefore strictly and only
a secondary principle. For motion and polarity have already
been demonstrated to depend upon the pre-existence and propagative action of antithetic principles of energy, as molecular adjuncts, and upon molecules themselves as plastic
materials previously differentiated and specialized, so to
speak, as elementary entities, with given atomicibies, or
functions for receiving and rejecting these two radical forces
in special quantities.
Furthermore, if the sixty-four known elements, more or
less, constituting the earth, were created as diffuse and widelyseparated molecules, "heat" could not have simultaneously
existed as an active phenomenal and mechanical force, according to recent determinations of laws in relation to thermic




MECHZ NICA L FOR C.                 28
causes and effects; for thermism  only becomes an active
motive agent after the juxtaposition of molecules has been
effected by attraction and compression, and after the vibratory
relations and reactions of molecules with each other have
commenced.  And we know  by experiment and universal
observation that this principle is only generated by the positive impact and friction of molecules one upon the other,
whether in larger or smaller quantities, as they vibrate
between, or rather under, the action of the two radical powers
of attraction and repulsion. Heat, therefore, must have been
only a species of secondary force, even in the beginning, and,
as now, a concomitant and equivalent of motion, intensifying
and diminishing with the latter, and reducible again into its
original elements of attraction and repulsion. Heat, as motive
force, is consequently a phenomenon whose development and
properties are immediate sequences of the action of attractive
force on molecules or masses in order to overcome repulsion;
and, vice versd, of the action of repulsive force on the same
molecules or masses, in order to overcome attraction; in
other words, heat is a sequence and result of the propagation
of two radical forces, dissimilar in character, through different
forms of matter.
However molecules or atoms might have been created and
endowed in the beginning-whether, as I hold, in one vast
mass of heterogeneous elements, weighed, measured, squared,
cubed, mixed, and united in definite proportions, and actuated
by pantheistic intelligence (so to speak), which mass was
usubsequently broken up and projected in fragments through
space, as the stars and planets are now distributed (a hypothesis rendered more tenable by spectral and other recent discoveries than any yet suggested)-or, filling space like chaotic,
accidental, formless, forceless, inert dust, vapour, or nebulous
fluid, as the first Herschel and Laplace conjectured, and as
most physicists now think;-in either condition, repulsion must
have co-existed with attraction and molecules as a component
of motive force, in like manner as we may, by experimental
and inductive evidence, demonstrate it to exist now.




282                FORCE AND NAI'URE
We cannot penetrate at present beyond this fundamental
physical fact; and, rejecting all hypotheses from our discussions, we are compelled to accept it as final truth.  We may,
moreover, safely build upon it as we advance, inasmuch as we
were constrained also by an exhaustive analysis of the subject, at the opening of this philosophy, to found all doctrine
upon it.
As attraction pulls molecules axially toward a common
centre from  opposite or polar points where repulsion had
previously left them, or, on the contrary, as repulsion pushes
molcules radially and equatorially from  a common centre
where attraction had previously left them,-in whichever
light we study the action and reaction of these binary elements of mechanical energy, or vis viva, we observe all phenomenal results in crystals, plants, or animals to develop
themselves upon crucial and bilateral principles, and all the
secondary forces to follow the same axial and equatorial lines
of propagated molecular force and motion.
Motion being thus initiated, mechanical phenomena imrediately succeed, and the entire machinery of nature becomes
inspired with eternal activity, and bound indissolubly together.
The mysteries of motion lie concealed in the fact that equal,
original, and specific amounts of attraction and repulsion-as
living, imponderable, and spiritual entities-were unequally
subdivided in the beginning of creation between the ultimate
elements out of which nature was constituted.  However
high this truth may reach, or however profoundly it may
cause inquiry to extend, it is nevertheless demonstrable by
evidence drawn from every department of exact science.
16
The origin of things is not here in question; only the
origin, elements, and character of mechanical force, and the
method by which physical phenomena are unfolded, after




MAECHNIIICAL FORCE.                  283
potential energy and motion have successively commenced
their work.  I have already stated, and it must be evident
to every unprejudiced physicist, that motion never could,
and never can, be generated and continued between molecules and masses which are absolutely inert and affected
by attraction alone; for most certainly if inertia be not antagonistic force, and be nothing, attraction would be a solitary
principle, encountering nothing whereupon to act or react,
except itself. This is an unintelligible and absurd idea. Even
if molecules fell together by attraction alone, of course there
could be no reaction; for matter, upon existing mechanical
theories, being inert, there could not be even the slightest
" elasticity "-a term  substituted for one of the functions of
repulsion. In order, therefore, to create, generate, or per2petuate
motion, there must be two positive co-ordinate and coefficient
elements, or radicals, in what is now called the "mis viva."
There are, then, TWO "living forces" in physical nature,
separate and distinct from matter, which reign supremely and
equally over every molecule and every mass; while quantitative inequalities only in the oscillation of these forces,
together with their power of composition and decomposition,
in their relations with molecules and masses as chemical and
cosmical elements, constitute the mysteries and phenomena
of mechanical energy and material motion. Accepting these
fundamental axioms, which microscopy and common observation, experimental physics, cosmical study, and severest
induction, all unite in declaring incontrovertible-admitting
these elements of force and matter as simple and, in the
present state of knowledge, as final physical facts, and then
rigorously following axioms and elements alike into all their
possibilities and amplifications-science is no longer at a
loss to discover the proximate principles of motion and of
mechanical action and reaction everywhere, from the centre
to the surface of the earth, and throughout the heavens.
Nor can physicists reject these elements and deductions,
however metaphysical, mysterious, or startling they may at
first appear, as primary causes and established quantities in




284                FORCE ANND NATURE.
nature, and as bases of development for all secondary phenomena-heat, light, electricity, and magnetism-in their
various terrestrial and celestial aspects, nor longer doubt their
secret agency in unfolding and perpetuating the diversified
forms of symmetry and life which address our senses through-out the surface of the globe. These elements of mechanical
~energy, however they may be considered, disclose themselves
always as attraction and repulsion-the same subtle, active,;and opposite principles of motion which constitute the working power transfused through, and developed by, the "lever "
and the "inclined plane." That the former of these powers,
which is the positive expression and equivalent of repulsion,
could be developed numerically to so great a degree as to move
a world, was proved by the demonstrations of Archimedes;
but he lacked the fulcrum which Newton found.
17.
Such is the inception, such are the causes, such the processes and secrets of motion, in its fundamental conditions
and mechanical possibilities, both  in finite and  infinite
degrees.  Coming and going  amid these mysteries, man
unconsciously imbibes, through all generations, these identical
forces; and thus his material being is sustained, his mind
unfolded, his civilization advanced and ennobled, from springs
of immaterial power, as hidden and impenetrable as the
interior of the planet he inhabits, and as vast as the universe
that rolls around him.
Up to this point, our discussions have been firmly founded
upon facts. No theory nor assumption of any sort, however
popular its form or eminent its authorship, has diverted us into
uncertain paths, or has been permitted to break the chain of
inquiry, or weaken the foundations upon which we at present
rest.  With this presentation of the principles, origin, and
results of motion it is quite impossible for the present spirit




MECHINICAL FORCE.                   28 
of speculation to be content.  But however earnestly the
premises may be cultivated or combated, I cannot withhold
the prediction that with the extension of experimental and
numerical inquiry, based upon these principles, a system of
physics will be finally unfolded which will reveal such indications of constant intellectual action and conservative tendencies in nature, that no philosopher will for a moment
conjecture that any element in its existence can be dissipated,
or that created things display evidences of its internal defects,
or signs of its general decay, or of an universal end.
18.
The Correlations The springs of motion being detected and
The Correlations  T                        b detected  and
of Cosmo-   reached, the wheels of creation begin to turn
dynmic a   intelligibly.  Manifold phenomena successively
Energy.   strike the senses, and excite the intellect to appreciative study; and the history of nature unfolds its past and
profound mysteries to the chemist and physicist, like an
endless panorama, whose varieties and complexities of form,
beauty, colouring, and combination astonish and interest
them as much as the substantial present charms and instructs
the common observer.
As we have observed force and motion reveal themselves
through molecules in crystallization, and traced them through
amplifying phenomena into cosmical functions of infinite
magnitudes, we have successively been introduced to those
forms of matter embraced in the natural realms of chemistry,.
mineralogy, geology, and cosmology. Without entering the
domains of these specialities further than necessary to observe
the operations of force and motion in their general development and connexion as an unique system  of creation, it is,
absolutely necessary to glance at the fundamental conditions
of matter as nature presents them to us, in order to unite.
legitimately and definitely the beginning with the end of our
study.




286                 FORCE AND XNATURE'.
The immediate mechanical result of motion, as effective
work, among molecules, so far as their individual relations
with each other are considered, appears to be crystallization.
That heat (the secondary force which can be generated everywhere, even between pieces of ice, by compression and
friction) is not the ultimate active element of " repulsion," nor
the proximate principle and absolute property of repulsive
force as mechanical energy traceable in this basic mechanical
phenomenon, we know by the crystallization of water as this
fluid passes from 40~ Fahr. into ice. Repulsion, as absolute
potential energy-that is to say, direct dynamic force-and
as an effective phenomenal agency displayed in this special
development of form, increases with the abstraction of heat:
and this fact demonstrates that while repulsion, vibrating
with attraction, is positively necessary to generate heat,
" heat," on the contrary, is not necessary to generate repulsive
force viewed per se as mechanical energy; and consequently
that thermism, as motive power, and the principle termed
"heat," "caloric," "a mode of motion," &c., is not, as some
physicists have recently conjectured, the co-ordinate and
coefficient of attraction and gravity in the economy of nature.
Repulsion is not, then, heat, any more than attraction is heat.
But we shall soon discover that heat as motion, or any form
of equivalent, cannot be generated independently of repulsion,
the identical cosmic agent which has been so much discussed
in preceding chapters. That repulsion exists as an abstract
and absolute power possessed of properties and functions
more profound and energetic than heat, is proved by phenomena in crystallization.  "Heat," therefore, examined in the
light of experiment and close analysis, appears to lose some
of the importance heretofore ascribed to it in various physical
theories; and, instead  of manifesting the character of a
FUNDAMENTAL dynacmic principle, per se, is clearly seen to
assume a secondary range of action, and to depend upon
some more profound force for its energetic functions: and
thus crystallization, as a phenomenal act or result of motion,
involving displays of cohesive force on one hand and of




MECH.NVICA'L FORCE                  28 7
cleavage, segregative, expansive, or wave-force on the other,
eliminates its conditions from dependencies upon heat or cold
as radical agents, and reduces the origin of its geometric
mysteries to pure attractive and repulsive energy, to combinations and reactions of dual agencies in every element,
presenting new  and important aspects of study in every
sense, experimental, theoretical, or practical.
Now, inasmuch as the experimental and mathematical studies
of crystallization, by many eminent chemical philosophers,
prove the ultimate atoms of the sixty-four material elements
constituting our planet to have special endowments and
different essential characters and capacities of absorbing and
becoming saturated with attractive and repulsive forces;
inasmuch as isomorphism and dimorphism-in fact, all phenomena developed in crystallogeny-both indicate and prove
these fundamental endowments and capacities to consist
in definite and different, yet absolute and uniform, amounts
of attractive and repulsive force (properties which render
it certain that molecules in their ultimate states are sensitized with a species of morphological, intelligent, and
internal creative essence, that forces rather than molecules
resolve themselves into combining quantities or crystallizing
powers and volumes with affinities for each other, and that
sensitive, plastic, crude, chaotic points or molecules are swept
by these combining forces into definite geometrical forms);
inasmuch as the specific weights and densities of these
various chemical elements, thus created, not only indicate
specific measures of pure attraction and repulsion to exist in
the fundamental constitution of each of them, but also
demonstrate their equally specific and unchangeable endowments and capacities for absorbing  and holding similar
specialities of force, both in their atomic and massive aspects
-a fact substantiated by all experimental chemical research;
it follows that force-force alone, atnd mcatter in no wise-produces the chemical conditions of simple and  compound
bodies, and that the actinic properties and sensibilities of
molecules are only specific capacities for absorbing and tem



288                FORCE AND NXATURE.
porarily or durably holding different and definite quantities
or elements of force.  It will thus be seen that Kekule's
chemical theory is based upon principles of philosophy capable
of the widest extension; and that while chemical experiments are leading to discoveries traceable from atoms into the
broadest fields of mineralogy, and the combinations of metallic
and gaseous substances into worlds; the course of the preceding studies has descended from these great cosmic masses
saturated with simple but opposite forces to the atoms themselves, the universal decompositions and recompositions of
which constitute the direct activities of each separate world,
and establish the conditions whereupon  all the celestial
motions depend.
It is at this point of our abstruse and almost metaphysical
inquiry that the mystery of cohesion begins to appear, and
that the birth of cohesive attraction in its manifold modifications, as a fundamental element in applied mechanics and
embraced in the treatment of "strength of materials," commences, and presents intelligible explanations of its variable
and extraordinary phenomena.
Thus the universal forces of attraction and repulsion heretofore delineated as molecular and cosmical generalities, as
simple, inchoate, chaotic powers of nature, are now seen to
segregate, or segmentate, so to speak, and enter into matter
in such manners as to atomize and endow it with specific
powers for accumulating, moulding, and building crude,
diffuse materials into geometrical forms-forms at first of an
infinitesimal character, but pregnant with innate assimilative
and germinal energies everywhere capable of vast amplifications, and with capacities for those wondrous developments
into vital and morphological, segmentative and locomotive,
being which spring up throughout the surface of our own
planet.
Crystallogeny, then, in  every aspect of chemical and
dynamical philosophy or theory, presents the ultimate elements of the material world (so far as they can be traced and
discovered, either directly or inductively) in the shape of




MEOCHANICAL FORCE.                  289
solids, and as ultimate atoms of unchanging but varied
geometrical forms.  The very essence of geometrical science
consists in specific quantities of the  binary  powers of
attraction and repulsion measured out upon molecules; the
first so acting as to shape the sides and ends, and the last
the angles, pyramids, and cleavages, of all crystals. Such
conditional relations of matter and force necessarily reduce
the phenomena of cohesion-that is to say, of cohesive attraction —into divisible and local functions of the same radical
principle which pervades the general constitution of nature
as static energy; and they involve the secret of the principle
and causation of specific weights; and inasmuch as all
elementary bodies display different degrees of density-a
property also affecting their specific weights-it may be seen
at the same glance that tenacity of cohesion, i. e. "strength of
material," is equally due to the force of repulsion also, which,
associated with attraction, is constantly present in every
simple and compound substance.  Every simple body then
possesses specific capacities for so much attraction, no more
and no less (speaking of this now as a pure abstract force and
formative agent).  In like manner every simple body possesses specific capacities for so much repulsion, and for no
more and no less (speaking of this also now as a pure abstract force and disintegrating agent): and by these two
forces the molecules of these bodies are held in such special
relations as to be differentiated and specialized one from the
other as ultimate elements of nature.  This is the basis of
cuhemical science, involving the mysteries of affinity, and of
solution and decomposition-that is to say, of chemical attraction and chemical repulsion. The combinations of elementary
bodies forming compounds are plainly, then, only combinations of radical forces in varying and exact quantities measured out by molecules, which quantities affecting each other
differently, decomposing one from the other, or being absorbed
one into the other, create new conditions, and multiply the
working capacities of nature. Thus new materials are added
to the original limited stock; and the binary volumes of
U




290                FOR CE AND NXATURE
original chaotic potential energy are divided, and subdivided
and compounded into multifarious generic quantities and
specific distinctions, neither of which destroys the differentiated functions of the other, and all of which, working
together and oscillating with one another, end in creating all
things that vary, and at the same time in holding each equally
subject and subordinate to the two primal developing powers,
which, as aggregate quantities and units, for ever reign ascendantly and universally over 1ll. By these means, and in this
manner, all nature, however diversified its forms, conditions;
and phenomena, is nevertheless one; and thus all science and
philosophy begin and end with those plastic molecules and
their combining and resolving energies, which, at first weighed
and measured in exact quantities by an Infinite Creator and
Geometer, now eloquently proclaim that harmony and order'
are eternal, and that a secret ceaseless providence pervades
all space, and guides the relations of matter and force
throughout their manifold  mutations, and  in  all their
developments.
19.
In order to comprehend clearly the modes of action and
connexion of attractive and repulsive forces upon, through,
and with matter, and of their transformation into mechanical
and phenomenal power, it will be necessary at this stage of
our study to pass from facts embraced in crystallization and
chemical affinity to those of a somewhat different and mixed
character.
The conditions existing in the associations of forces and
molecules, and the chemical affinities existing in crystalline
forms of the grandest dimensions, are identical with those
existing in the minutest atoms of any of the elementary
bodies or of their compounds, and vice versd.
The modifications of attraction involved in the property of
cohesion, embracing "elasticity," "strain," "stress," and " the.




MIECHANIOCL FORCE.                   291
ultimate strength of solids," are very evidently due to the
quantity of repulsion specifically appropriated to and mingled
in the capacities of molecules, or in the structure of all ultimate atoms, as final chemical elements.  For example, a
crystal, or an amorphous mass-consequently each ultimate
atom of the elementary body called Gold-is so constituted
and endowed as to be susceptible of and chargeable with
attraction almost alone, comparatively speaking; while carbon
is, on the contrary, so constituted in its ultimate atomic
structure and capacity as to absorb and hold or induce and
conduct repulsive force, as pure abstract cosmic energy, with
remarkable celerity and exclusiveness. Diamond, for instance,
cuts glass and crystals of silex; and the separation of particles thus effected arises from the active and subtle infusion
into the points touched of a principle of energy the opposite
of cohesive attraction. In order clearly to present natural
laws deducible from facts and analysis regarding the action
and movements of forces in their relations with matter and
worlds, so that this system  of philosophy may be fully
comprehended, brief demonstrations may be here required,
illustrated by facts drawn from  the free, rapid, slow, or
violent movements of certain elastic gases, and from  their
capabilities of diffusion, absorption, condensation, vibration,
and expansion in connexion with certain other substances of
a more solid character.  I solicit close attention to this
branch of our discussions.
In former parts of this work  I have endeavoured to
expound the nature and action of force, and to show that
similar principles  instantly mix  and  combine  into one
volume; that force, not matter, is the cause of motion
everywhere; that an apple falls, for instance, only because the
force of attraction in it is precisely like the force of attraction
which fills the globe, in virtue of which fact a tendency in
both is manifested to integrate and form an unique volume of
molecular and cosmic energy; that the force in the apple
restlessly strives to rush into and combine with its planetary
cognate in the same manner and with like results as one drop
u2




292                FORCE AND NAL T UR E.
of water mixes and coalesces with another drop, or with a
lake or ocean, and as one globule of quicksilver falling into,
instantly combines with and vanishes in, its cognate element,
for ever afterwards to be undistinguishable as an individual
drop.  It is this wonderful property possessed by pure forces
to translate themselves, and act upon their cognates, to create
tension, and become transformed into or replaced by each
other, that I wish by various illustrations to present in the
clearest light possible, These illustrations will in turn throw
new light upon the generation of heat and the mechanical
phenomenon of combustion. They will at the same time
define the cosmic origin of potential energy, explain more
clearly the processes of its induction from cosmic sources, and
expose the modes of its propagation, general action, and even
of its transformation into mechanical motion and phenomenal
creation.
Certain substances, either simple or compound, such as
carbon, or compounds of nitrogen and carbon, nitro-glycerine,
gunpowder, gun-cotton, &c., possess the remarkable attributes
of instantly inducing and abstracting from cosmic sources,
and of absorbing and accumulating within themselves, pure
potential energy, and also of instantly discharging it under
certain circumstances with more or less violent mechanical
results.  The forces expended in explosive phenomena have
always heretofore been considered as latent principles wholly
local, isolated and locked up in explosive substances, and
only disengaged at the moment of explosion.  It has never
been considered that they have any direct relation or connexion with interior telluric forces, or that they are instantaneous and positive inductions from cosmic sources of energy.
Yet such is really the fact; and a circumspect search into the
mechanism  of explosive phenomena will not only establish
this extraordinary truth, but lead us, moreover, to comprehend the origin and nature of cohesive attraction on one
hand, and of solution, expansion, and radiation on the other.
When we have studied the manner and swiftness with which
certain gases, charged with repulsive forces, move and act in




I'ECHANICAL  OPUC,.                293
relation to more cohesive substances, we shall be the better
prepared to comprehend the conclusions which I present.
Charcoal, for example, absorbs and accumulates within its
interstices varying volumes of different gases, even as much
as ninety times its volume of muriatic acid gas, and of ammoniacal gas. Spongy platinum instantly selects and absorbs
from  the atmosphere eight hundred times its volume of
oxygen, and holds this gas locked up and unperceived until
hydrogen is poured upon it. These examples, and others of
a similar character which might be cited, pertinently illustrate a fact and principle connected with the behaviour and
inductive tendencies of attraction and repulsion involving
the absolute transfusions of the radical elements of energy
through matter and into masses, in virtue of which even that
state acquired by matter, and called by Sir William Thomson "energy of position," may be legitimately explained.
They will elucidate also certain subtle actions of force which
have not heretofore excited the attention which they deserve,
and the phenomena of which it is desirable to consider, in
order to connect the principles and phenomena of "rational
mechanics" with their cosmic sources of power, and thus
divest physical laws of theoretical complications, lift mechanical science from regions of materialism, and reduce all
the facts, laws, and doctrines of dynamics into narrow limits
and positive system.
Now, when this spongy platinum above referred to, a pure
metal, equally pure and simple in its subdivided and atomic
as in its compact and cohesive state, is exposed to oxygen,
physical properties appear in both which they did not
manifest previously to the molecular subdivision of the
metal. The platinum instantly-so quickly indeed, that no
thought can conceive of the rapidity-absorbs and accumulates, from centre to circumference of its mass, eight hundred
times its volume of this gas.
It is the physical facts and conditions to which I desire to
call attention in this connexion, more than to the chemical
ones.  The latter of course lie at the foundation of the




294                FORCE AIND NATURE.
former, and are pregnant with wondrous consequences in
physico-chemical directions. But it is the simple facts of the
translation of matter under the direct influence of attraction,
and of the exclusion of repulsion, so to speak, from  the
attracted and moving gas, to which I confine attention; this
repulsion now being considered as the active agent in expanding the oxygen molecules into eight hundred times the
bulk of the platinum mass, when the gas is in its normal
condition.  It is the swiftness with which these physical
translations are effected that I specially cite, in order to
illustrate the celerity with which mechanical energy itself,
as pure force, can be transferred from  one substance or
locality to another; repulsion replacing attraction, and attraction repulsion, as surrounding circumstances determine.
Since force clings more or less to molecules, and molecules
to force; since forces assimilate with forces of the same kind,
and exchange expressions of energy with their opposites,
according to special laws of quantity, affinity, saturation, and
rejection existing in elementary forms of matter; since even
tension on one hand, tending to explosion and projection, and
partial exhaustion of forces on the other, tending to traction,
may temporarily and locally exist in all bodies and all
parts of the globe; it is evident that the repulsive forces
normally inherent in, and separating so widely, these eight
hundred volumes of oxygen particles, have either been absorbed
and condensed into the interstices of the spongy mass, there
resting as inert or latent force (an irrational conjecture, as
we shall see more clearly hereafter), or that only the particles of oxygen have been absorbed and condensed, to the
temporary exclusion, so to speak, of the repulsive forces
of these particles-that is to say, of the positive potential
energy which holds them  normally asunder.  If excluded,
this exclusion has been instantaneous, and the quantity of
repulsive force existing in the oxygen to prevent molecular
juxtaposition has been thrown into the general fountain of
cosmical repulsion with which the planet is charged. Or, if,
on the contrary, the repulsive principle has instantly vanished,




31ECHANICAL FORCE.                 295
though in such a manner as to exist still in the metal as a latent
power, a sort of condensed vis inertice, it must have been as
-instantly assimilated to and absorbed into some form  or
property of repulsion which the platinum  acquired by disintegration.  That it becomes stored and lies latent in the
spongy metal, as a definite entity, as a condensed active and
potential mechanical agent, is by no means proved or
demonstrable.  That this repulsion is instantly induced and
pulled, so to speak, by the globe out of the gas as the latter
rushes into the sponge, and that repulsive force is subsequently induced and drawn into the expanding gas out of the
gross sum stored in the planet, into which it had previously
vanished, is demonstrable and proved beyond doubt by the
phenomenon developed when a current of hydrogen is poured
upon the sponge. In either case, the velocity with which
radical energy as a motive principle translates itself anywhere and in any quantity, vanishing and reappearing with
violence as it enters matter and effects explosion, or generates
continuous motion, is infinite and  inconceivable, and so
transcendentally subtle as to appear more than metaphysical,
if it be possible to conceive of an entity more subtle than
thought. The fact exists, however, whatever its explanation.
And it is this fact which I wish specially to present in the
boldest relief, fortified by plain and unequivocal proof. The
ultimate nature of physical energy as a living and active
principle in matter we shall probably never know; but that
the radical agencies upon which heat, light, magnetism, and
electricity depend for their existence and manifestation cannot and may not travel as fast and with as much subtlety
as their offspring, is a point that no experimental philo-.sopher will venture to question, in the present state of our
knowledge.
The wonderful physico-chemical phenomenon just presented, and shortly to be alluded to again for other purposes,
exhibits the connecting link between molecular and cosmical
physics, and will, when closely studied, lead us to comprehend
the agency of molecular mechanics in initiating and unfolding




296                FORCE ANIV  NAVi'IUE.
phenomena  which, generated  from  statical conditions of
matter and force, swell from their zero, so to speak, into
dynamical potencies, involving every mechanical law  and
principle in all their graphical and numerical issues. This
phenomenon strikingly illustrates the modus agendi, at this
point or that point, of the instantaneous disappearances,
inductions, translations, and reappearances of force, as a
motive or energetic principle, and as it exhibits itself in
nature or in experiments-I mean of absolute potential
energy, such as is* contributed from the earth's central quantities, and which, as I hold, is transmitted  everywhere
through all matter, alike in the motion induced through the
"lever" and "inclined plane," and so back again to the
earth's centre, as water is transmitted through tubes, or
electricity through conductors. Such are the processes, the
modes of action, in the transmissions of energy, by which I
regard mechanical work of all sorts to be effected.  This
phenomenon also illustrates the mechanism  of transmutation
of mechanical force; as, for instance, the way in which
attraction existing in cohesion as an attribute of chemical
law may be supplanted by repulsion, a principle of solution,
of projection, and of mechanical law.  And it illustrates the
mode by which matter is excited from  static into dynamic
conditions, as these radical forces, diffusing themselves in all
directions antithetically through molecules, generate successively atomic motion and general vibration, thus transforming themselves verily into heat and combustion, and finally
developing " mechanical power " and projectile and cosmical
motion.
Thus atomic functions-chemical forces and affinitiesappear to be directly affiliated with, and convertible into,
rational and economical mechanics, and so on into celestial
dynamics.  And from  this point of view it must be plainly
seen again, that all manifestations of physical energy spring
from the same radical sources, and return into the same, this
energy producing everywhere similar or equivalent results.
A  critical consideration of the remarkable phenomena




ANECH'ANICAL FORCJE.                297
developed by the contact of spongy platinum  with oxygen
and hydrogen will be fruitful also in demonstrating the
origin and truly evanescent character-indeed, I may say, the
positive instability and unsubstantiality-of heat.  And I
will here interpolate, that we must never permit ourselves for
a moment to believe that heat, because it is a sensible agent,
is a positive entity, or that it is the abstract force of "repulsion," any more than that a galvanic current is abstract
repulsive force because it also creates mechanical expansion
in platinum, iron, and some other metals. For this separation of molecules galvanism will, indeed, effect independently of heat, thus showing that "repulsion," however or
wherever it may appear, is a more abstract principle than
heat; that it is virtually the mechanical element in heat and
other secondary forces; that heat, electricity, &c. are not
repulsive force per se, but only the resultants of conflicts of
the radical forces, in which conflicts repulsion plays an
active part; and that all secondary forces are simple incidents and equivalents of motion.  These general remarks
upon mechanical force, apparently discursive, are not aimless,
but collateral and necessary. For the bearings of our discussion and generalizations are very broad, and it is important
to connect theorems already established and the developments of prior discussions with the multifarious phenomena
dependent upon heat and other secondary forces which, in one
form or another, saturate the earth and all other cosmical
bodies, inasmuch as the discussion of these in their largest
aspects will soon follow: and it is furthermore necessary, in
order thus to unite experimental knowledge and mechanical
inquiry with the cosmical forces of which I have heretofore
treated, and which open an infinite field for future exploration
and discovery.
I* am  well aware that to minds wholly imbued with
mathematical or mechanical ideas, based upon existing
dynamical theories, this attempt to enunciate principles of
motion of a mixed metaphysical and material character.
and to reach their origin through inquiries connected with




298                FORCE AND NATURE.
chemical philosophy, may appear futile, and perhaps absurd.
To the chemical philosopher they will probably appear less
so. But since all branches of physical science are indissolubly connected by threads so subtle as only to be discovered by their effects and mutual influences upon every
form of matter, I trust that, as the subject unfolds, our facts
and inductions may be clear and convincing to students of
nature of every class.  If I fail to present them to others as
clearly as they exist in my own mind, the defect will arise
rather from a lack of ability on my part to state points, than
from  the points themselves, which are too numerous and
important to be long overlooked hereafter.
20.
A few historical remarks at this juncture will also be
necessary, in order to complete the elements of our subject;
and its grandeur will not diminish, in the end, when we
discover that the common, crude, working powers of water,
steam, and animal bone and muscle are drawn directly from
the central forces of the globe, and that they return again to
the same fountain when their action has been exhausted upon
the planet's surface in general, chemical, mechanical, and
projectile functions.
Two centuries ago, the acute philosopher John Locke
stated that " Heat is a very brisk agitation of the insensible' parts of the object, which produces in us that sensation
" from whence we denominate the object hot; so that what
" in our sensation is heat, in the object is nothing but motion."
No definition could be more exactly stated, and no subsequent studies or discoveries have changed the correctness of
the idea at the base of that plain theorem.
Rumford, in 1798, instituted a series of well-known experiments upon the generation and laws of heat in the boring of
cannon at Munich, and he declared, what subsequent experi



MECHlJNICWAL FORCE.                299
mental inquiry has only confirmed, in these terms: "It is
"hardly necessary to add that anything which any insulated
"body, or system of bodies, can continue to furnish without
" limitaction cannot possibly be a material substance; and it
" appears to me to be extremely difficult, if not quite impossible, to form any distinct idea of anything capable of being
"excited and communicated in these experiments, except it
be MOTION."  Ignorant of causes, Rumnford explicitly stated
that he was " very far from pretending to know how or by
" what means or mechanical contrivances that particular kind
4' of motion in bodies which has been supposed to constitute
" heat is exerted, continued, and propagated." With an intuition, however, seeming now almost prophetic, he further said,
in relation to this subject: "But although the mechanism of
5' heat should, in part, be one of those mysteries of nature
" which are beyond the reach of even human intelligence,
"this ought by no means to discourage us, or even lessen our
" ardour in our attempts to investigate the laws of its operations. How far can we advance in any of the paths which
A science has opened to us, before we find ourselves enveloped
"in those thick mists which on every side bound the horizon
"of the human intellect? "
These words inaugurated a new era, and virtually struck
the first blow at the materialism of modern science; but they
have been overlooked and practically disregarded for half a
century. Nevertheless, the illustrious Davy authoritatively
announced again, in 1812, that " the immediate cause of the
phenomena of heat is motion."  It remained, however, for
the modest physician of Heilbronn in Germany, Julius Robert
Mayer, to publish, in 1842, a paper on the "Forces of Inorganic Nature," in order to breathe life into the discovery of
Rumford, and stimulate the stubborn intelligence of our age
to more just appreciations of the relations of physical force
to mechanics, in contradistinction from inert moving matter,
or vis mortua. But even the originality, acuteness, and value.of Mayer's researches and views have been almost lost amid
the rapid developments of the subject which now engross the




300                FORCE AND NATURE.
attention of physicists, So unimportant was the burden of
his simple but extraordinary paper at first considered by the
mathematicians to whom it was successively submitted, that
only the lofty genius and immoveable firmness of the illustrious philosopher Justus Von Liebig rescued it from obscurity;
and, detecting its intrinsic value by a sort of intuition,
he effected its publication  upon  his own responsibility,
and contrary to the opinions of several distinguished critics.
The communication of this fact to the writer by the great
chemist himself, in an interesting conversation upon "the
uncertain value of mathematical conclusions when analyses
are founded upon inexact elements and theories," affords
a pleasing recollection of his frequent encouragements of
obscure merit, his original acuteness of thought, and his zeal
for progress and exact research in all departments of science
and philosophy; and I record it in this connexion, in order
that that priority of discovery may be the more unreservedly
accorded to Dr. Mayer to which he is justly entitled, and this
through the prescience of Baron Von Liebig.
But the numerous experiments and persevering researches
of Dr. J. P. Joule, of Manchester, conducted about the same
period as those of Mayer, and published soon afterwards,
entitle him also to the acknowledgments of the scientific
world, inasmuch as the correlation, equivalents, and general
conservation of force involved in the terms " motion," " heat,"
and "mechaiical work," and vice versa, first published by
Mayer, were independently elaborated and perfected by him,
and because the entire range of physical knowledge has been
triumphantly extended by his searching experiments and the
exactness of his computations and conclusions.
It remains for science to fill that space in the chain of
physical discovery which allies motion and heat with gravitation, and to connect the phenomena developed in molecular and experimental physics with the general forces and
dynamics of the cosmos.




MECHB1lNICAJL FORC(E                301
21.
The discoveries of Mayer and Joule have profoundly influenced the scientific views of the age. While receiving,
however, legitimate and solid development at the hands of
several distinguished scholars, the wildest conjectures upon
cosmical subjects have sprung from them also; and professors
and teachers of commanding authority have even invoked
the mathematics to transmute these conjectures into fact and
stable doctrine.  Indeed, to such an extent is this sort of
speculation and empiricism carried, that solar heat and light
are believed by many physicists to be absolutely generated
by the impact only of solid matter, which, flying at random
in space, incessantly falls upon the sun by virtue of gravitation; and the quantity and weight of this matter even have
been calculated and announced with as much apparent confidence as if such phenomena were proved to exist by exact
observation, and were beyond possible doubt.  In  like
manner, the Zodiacal Light and the rings of Saturn are now
declared to be composed of meteorites, and their different
degrees of luminous intensity are ascribed to the alternate
packing, or to the collision and diffusion) of these bodies, as
they rush in larger or smaller masses in wild confusion against
each other, while moving in established paths through space.
In speaking of the Zodiacal Light, Nichol says: "No hypo" thesis, indeed, appears adequate to satisfy known dynamic
" conditions, but the one at present generally received. It is now
"recognised, that the larger planets are not the sole consti"tuents of our solar system, but that in all probability
"masses of planetoids or meteorites-too small to be discerned
"individually-circulate around our luminary in streams....
"We might refer also, as an analogous instance, to Saturn's
"rings.  The periodic shouers of meteors receive in such an
"hypothesis their best explanation; and in the conception of
"such a ring of meteors nearer the sun we find a key to all
"established phenomena connected with the Zodiacal Light."




302                FORCE AND NATURE.
The last treatise on Astronomy published in the English
language, so far as I know, is that by Lockyer, already
referred to as a reliable authority.  Speaking of Saturn's,
rings, the author says: " Of what, then, are these rings coin" posed? There is great reason for believing that they are
"neither solid or liquid; and the idea now generally accepted
" is that they are composed of myriads of satellites, or little
"bodies, moving independently, each in its own orbit, round
"the planet; giving rise to the appearance of a bright ring" when they are closely packed together, and a very dim one
"when they are scattered.  In this way we may account
"for the varying brightness of the different parts, and for
"the haziness on both sides of the ring near the planet, which
" is supposed to be due to the bodies being drawn out of the
" ring by the attraction of the planet."
Such descriptions and opinions, based mainly upon conjectures, are perhaps unavoidable in the present state of
learning; but they expose the vacuum which really exists in
physical science, while they also indicate the direction in
which speculative inquiry tends in consequence of Mayer's
discoveries, suggestions, and calculations.  Other forms of
explanation may, however, be legitimately deduced from the
positive knowledge of cosmical facts of a chemical and
mechanical character; and these explanations may be considered reliable and of permanent value, when free from
hypothetical elements, and when based upon facts which no
theory can ignore.  Such must be the case, when the existence and periodical intensities of terrestrial phenomena are
found, by every method of observation and inquiry, to depend
upon special distances of our own planet from other cosmical
bodies; and when the phenomena of motion, light, and
actinism  observable in bodies studding the more distant
realms of space not only resemble, but also are identical
with, those of a terrestrial and experimental character.
It is in view of the present state of scientific inquiry, and
of the facts already accumulated in various departments of
physics, grasping firmly such facts, and steadily rejecting all




MIECHANICAL FORCE.                   303
hypotheses, that I now propose to apply principles developed
in the preceding discussions to a new series of investigations;
and, proceeding from  the known, endeavour to reach the
unknown, and, if possible, fill the chasm  now so patent in
cosmical physics.
22.
Correlationsand  The sum  of exact knowledge attained in every
Equivalencyof branch of physical research is, when considered
the various
forms of Force. in the aggregate, vast and bewildering; but the
forces which illustrate every class of phenomena constituting
this sum  are so  simple as to be  still more wonderful.
The  endless  variety  of geometrical and  morphological
development everywhere observable results only from  expenditures of different measures of these forces upon matter
in its molecular states, and from  the submission of all consolidated forms to the aggregate energies of these forces.
These forces, originally units of attraction and repulsion, were
subsequently divided, and subdivided, and measured out to
these forms, in order to square, cube, and limit their respective volumes, define their individual actinic capacities, specify
their basic and combining functions, and adjust their relative
proportions and positions to each other as elementary quantities; and, although separately observable and computable
in each basic form  and combination, as molecular agencies,
they still act in the aggregate as potential energetics to bind
all nature into one cosmical system, a single mechanical unit,.
however varied its planetary and chemical details. All this,
conceived and executed by the Supreme Being in the unlknown periods of the past, we now discover in virtue of a
cognate spirit of understanding in ourselves, the nature of
which appears to be not only kindred to but assimilative with
absolute Deity itself.  This is demonstrable, inasmuch as,
by patient searching after truth, the profound secrets of




304               FORCE AND] NATURE.
space, time, and thought are successively revealed unto and
made clear to us.
We may now revert with the greater boldness to purely
physical particulars, and consider the extraordinary phenomena developed between spongy platinum  and oxygen and
hydrogen, in such a manner as to detect their connexion, and
that of kindred phenomena, with the central energies of the
planet-the great fountains of mechanico-cosmic force, from
which they undoubtedly spring.  The mechanical conditions
of combustion and heat being once clearly understood, and
their elements-the "elementum  ignis "-discovered to be
simple vibrations of the same molecular forces which, aggregated in planets, suns, and comets, constitute their central
forces, in systems cosmical motion, and in the stars universal
action, reaction, and eternal activity, the obscurity which
has heretofore surrounded the study of these subjects will
vanish, and a fresh impetus will be given to general physical
inquiry.
23.
When spongy platinum, saturated by attraction with its
eight hundred volumes of pure oxygen, is exposed to a
current of hydrogen, the latter instantly begins to penetrate
and combine with the former gaseous substance; and so
swiftly developed are their conjoint molecular action and
reaction-that is to say, so rapid is the antithetic diffusion
and conflict, the polar action, of attraction and repulsion
among the particles of these gases as they combine in elective
numbers and weights to form water-that the metal quicklybecomes intensely hot. The water thus formed is, of course,
most attenuated vapour, and only detected by condensation.
The fact of the chemical combination is well known. When
the flow of hydrogen is stopped, the metal will again instantly
attract and surcharge the interstices with other eight hundred




MEICANICAL FORCE.                    3 0
volumes of oxygen, which the hydrogen in turn will again
agitate, inflame, and expel in the form  of water; and thus
this process may be endlessly repeated, always with like
results, and without the destruction, loss, or transformation of a
particle of the metal, or either of the gases.  The entire mechanism  of the phenomenon, complex and inexplicable as it
may at first seem, is one of the simplest in nature.  And
inasmuch as it is, dynamical in all its functions, it will lead
us to a clearer understanding of the elements of mechanical
force, and of their method of action, as creative and destructive agents, in their relations with matter,- with geometric and
organic forms, and with nature at large.
In this problem  five elements- are presented —platinum,
oxygen, hydrogen, molecular attraction, molecular repulsion;
three of matter, two of force. Since the three first remain
for ever the same in quality and quantity (the platinum  only
holding, as a sort of plastic medium  or recipient, such
relations to the oscillating actions of the two gases as I formerly described molecules to hold to the two radical forces
of attraction and repulsion), it follows that the forces alone
with which the gases are saturated are fluctuating quantities
and the invisible and intangible powers which determine the
actions and results above delineated. It is certain that not an
atom  of either of the three material elements changes its
nature, quantity, capacity, or weight;- in fine, not a principle or property of its specific elementary substance. The
condition of the oxygen is only so far altered that at first
it seems to have alienated its molecular repulsive forces
and set them free into surrounding matter, and to have temporarily accumulated internal attractive force by which its
particles have been condensed and apparently compressed between the particles of platinum, as we behold a comet contract as if compressed when it approaches the sun and is at
perihelion. This liberation of its repulsion, involving its
submission to new  conditions of inter-molecular attraction,
so different from its normal ones, is a phenomenon developed
with the quickness of thought. The rapidity of the change
x




3 0 6             FOR CE AJND NATURE.
is so swift as to be inconceivable. The phenomenon is
one exclusively affecting force-not matter-for the oxygen
is the same in every respect, except condensed in bulk, and is
not' even ozonized. When hydrogen particles, charged as they
are so enormously with repulsion, come in contact with the
oxygen particles, the latter instantly acquire new energies, and
assert claims to affiliate and unite with hydrogen rather than
to associate longer with the metal; and in this struggle to
combine and mix their respective inherent forces the molecules themselves are impelled into contact and repelled with
such subtle, rapid, and intense vibratory impact and reaction
that heat and combustion ensue in the same manner as friction
and impact: that is to say, molecular pressure and reaction
produce heat under all other conditions and circumstances;
the combustion in this case being demonstratively only intensity and subtlety of molecular motion without the consumption
or loss of anything. Translations alone of matter and force
occur, ending in the formation of water by the final union of
the oxygen and hydrogen molecules in their definite and
natural volumes and measures. The intense heat-the firethus developed by the chemical combination of these gases
appears to be due solely to the mechanical functions involved
in the motion of their molecules among each other-to the
action, but especially to the reaction, of determinate volumes
of molecules and molecular forces one upon the other; that is
to say, to the propagation of antagonistic forces from centres
to centres of molecules, and to their decompositions and recompositions between these centres. In this conflict motion
appears as the parent and equivalent of heat, and becomes
equally convertible into light, electricity, and magnetism; and
each of these secondary agencies is not only correlated to, but
absolutely inoculated with, and vivified and actuated by, the
principle of repulsion, which principle is the chief basic
element of mechanical energy-indeed the very dynamical
energy itself. The inseparable, co-ordinate, and co-efficient
relations of attraction and repulsion as abstract molecular
forces have been long established. My purpose is to follow




MECESNICAL FORCE.                   307
these latter into their cosmical expansions, and connect them
with all other forms of force, and with all phenomena in
experimental, terrestrial, and cosmical physics.
24.
In the phenomenon just described the rush of hydrogen
molecules charged with repulsive forces upon and among
oxygen  molecules, which  had  previously  liberated  and
alienated their normal quantities of repulsion through the
influences of the spongy platinum, not only tends to establish
mutual union of their respective forces, but wherever the
forces are infused the hydrogen also penetrates, atoms of each
instantly grappling and struggling with atoms of the other; and
thus collision, friction, impact, reaction, and the most subtle
vibrations conceivable ensue, and are propagated throughout
the metallic mass. Dynamical conditions similar to these
always cause heat, or some other form of secondary force,
to appear in every elementary substance, and in all their compounds. The development of heat, the striking phenomenon
of combustion in the spongy platinum, is a strictly dynamical
process. And while this conflict of molecular energies-this
rushing forward and backward of subtlest molecules with
infinite swiftness-has been progressing, an equilibrium of the
forces normal to the original elements is at last restored;
and, as a chemical result, the condensed water is found to
weigh exactly as much as the two gases from which it has
been formed.  Intense as this heat and combustion have
appeared to be, not a molecule in either element has been
destroyed or lost. Not one has even been disturbed, transformed, or touched in its substance or ultimate nature. Thus
platinum sponge, after its attraction and absorption of oxygen
to saturation, after it has condensed and accumulated within
its dimensions not only eight hundred times its own volume
of this gaseous substance, but also the capacities for potential
x2




308                FORCE AND NlTURE
and repulsive energy which, normally acting between oxygen
molecules, expands them into this enormous space-thus this
metal, in virtue of its peculiar character, becomes the focus of
an extraordinary mechanical, chemical, and cohesive phenomenon, that permits us to demonstrate the process by which
heat is generated and accumulated, and to learn what the mechanism  of combustion —the "elementum  ignis"-really is.
The mystery seems to consist in the racpid transfer and propagation of the radical forces of repulsion and attraction.  The
intense celerity of these antithetic transfers and diffusions of
forces through molecules and through masses constitutes undulatory motion; and the subtle vibrations resulting from these
propagations constitute local heat and light, and, according
to varying conditions of matter and circumstance, magnetism
and electricity also. All experimental researches show that
the forces of nature, in performing their eternal cycles of
action, creation, and reaction, converge to, meet in, and radiate
from this fact and law.  Inasmuch as no matter is consumed,
annihilated, or disappears in the phenomena described, it is
evident that heat, fre, and combustion (when considered as
one and the same physical act and principle, differing only in
intensity) are not necessarily, nor in any sense, destructive
agents. They involve the final facts of the attractions, conductions, and repulsions of antithetic forces through molecules, thereby generating insensible vibrations, which amplify
and expand so as finally to become sensible motion, effecting
at last absolute translations through space of matter loaded to
repletion with potential energy, which energy vanishes and
appears in ceaseless mechanical and cosmical phenomena.
Through the insights into nature gained by this experiment we discover that heat, fire, and combustion, whatever
their intensity or extent, in any element or in any globe,
become reducible in definition to the simple fact and mechanism of the propagation through molecules and masses of
attraction and repulsion as abstract radical entities and antagonistic cosmical forces; and that the mutual interferences and
resistances of these forces, of each to the other, beginning




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   309
with atomic vibrations of infinite subtlety, end in decompositions and recompositions of every grade: thus, on one
hand, establishing celestial motion, and on the other chemical
action and reaction: at one moment effecting cohesion; at
another, solution: and for ever subordinating the juxtaposition of atoms and the mutual relations of spheres to the
unequal distribution and oscillations of these forces.
In the platinum  phenomenon the effects of molecular
motion-that is to say, the propagations of attraction and
repulsion, as pure abstract forces, resulting in vibrations and
intense heat —are simplified and singularly free from chemical
complications and disturbances of difficult explanation. The
platinum  itself remains always unchanged.  It is, so to
speak, simply a clear field of battle, where the inherent
capacities and forces of oxygen and hydrogen encounter each
other. The most that may be said of the possible interference
of the inherent platinum forces in this phenomenon is, that
the metal is sensitive to, and a quick conductor of, attraction, as shown by its natural cohesion and density.  But
these physical qualities being deranged by molecular disintegration, it may be considered, in a certain sense, a neutral
field of action. In this view, the metal may be eliminated
as an active element from  the problem.  And since the
oxygen andj hydrogen particles are not in the slightest
manner altered in quantity or character by contact, only
mixed the more intimately, and ready at any moment to fly
apart when a voltaic current abstracts the cohesive property
acquired in the experiment, it becomes clear that only absorption and expulsion-the antithetic propagation of forces from
molecule to molecule, and the action and reaction of these
forces upon the gases and metal, producing positive vibration,
friction, impact, motion, and nothing else, and all of a molecular character-are the secret cause of heat in this case. Not
a molecule has been added; not one abstracted. Forces only,
attraction and repulsion, have darted in and out, and through
and through, swifter than quickest thought; and sensible
heat as positive mechanical working energy instantly appears,




310                 FORCE AND NATURE.
the correlative and equivalent of reaction: and reaction is
only an indefinite word for the expressive radical term, repulsion.  And since heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and
actinism, are only inflections of each other, regarded as
mechanical agents or effects, all originating in like manner
from, and dependent upon, molecular disturbances, impacts,
and reactions-that is, upon propagations of antithetic forces
through different elements under different circumstances-it
clearly follows that all not only possess similar functional
qualities of polarity, and of attraction and repulsion, but are
also equivalents of the latter forces, disclosing not only the
correlations of the former to gravitation through repulsion,
but also the absolute conservation of gravitative force, as
insisted by Faraday; while it is, at the same time, constantly
employed  as an exhaustless element of potential energy
throughout the universe. Thus forces abstractly considered,
and appearing in this way as metaphysical entities, become
awakened into positive physical existence; and, inseparable
from matter, they become the eternal mechanical powers of
nature.
The intense heat excited in the platinum  phenomenon is
now  discovered to be the result alone of propagations of
attractive and repulsive force generating vibrations among
molecules.  The chemical change in the conditions of the
gases is purely COHESIVE in character, governed alone by
hidden laws of quantity and volume.  Thus we are finally
brought face to face with the great fact that chemical forces
and affinities are after all only quantitative conversions into
actinism of the basic molecular forces of attraction and repulsion; the same forces which in the aggregation and unification of material powers constitute cosmical dynamic energy.
Mysterious  principles  of selection  and  quantity  alone
specialize and distinguish chemical forces from other conditions of cosmical force; and these profound and wonderful
differentiating powers seem like so many independent, substantial, directive ministers of nature, whose essences, secretly
linked with and diffused throughout vast fountains of crude




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   311
chaotic energy, express to us, and indeed constitute, the very
infinity, power, mystery, and majesty of the Godhead itself.
A conception of these occult principles and powers is conspicuous in the earliest culture of Asiatic thought; and from
this conception appears to have sprung those polytheistical
ideas which, spreading with the dispersion of the ancient
peoples, have shaped in one form or another the beliefs of successive generations and the influences of which, indeed, have
not yet wholly disappeared from the nations and institutions
of our own times.
25.
Thus all the secondary and sensible forces of nature-heat,
light, electricity, and magnetism-in all their modifications,
are traceable to the penetration and propagation of the
insensible and radical forces of attraction and repulsion
through molecules and masses.  Molecular vibrations are the
immediate result; and motion is the measurable exponent of
the sum of these vibrations represented in heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and chemical affinity; which in turn are
everywhere seen to be transformable into material development as mechanical power and productive work.  Physicists
have already announced, with undoubted correctness as a
general fact, the numerical relations and equivalency which
all the secondary forces bear to each other and to motion.
Rumford determined, nearly seventy years ago, that the molecular motion involved in the combination of one pound of
hydrogen with eight pounds of oxygen, to form water, will
develop sufficient heat to raise thirty-four hundred pounds of
water 1~ C. This heat, as a volume of molecular repulsion
and an offspring of abstract force, the opposite of gravitation, instantly transmutable and translatable into all sorts
of effective motion through any form of matter, either for
lifting, as by the lever or pulley, or projecting other matter,




312                FOROC  AND NA1TURE.
is capable, by computation, of lifting 47,000,000 pounds one
foot high.
Now these same nine pounds of molecules, eight pounds of
oxygen and one pound of hydrogen, when condensed from
gases into steamn from steam into water, and then consolidated
into ice, employ a force of molecular attraction-the antithetic
of molecular repulsion-which can be equally reduced by
numbers to approximative mechanical values. When thus
reduced, they represent the mechanical power involved in the
inclined plane, which, expressed in numbers, is equal to the
effect of gravitation upon a ton weight falling through three
successive descents of 22,320 feet + 2,900 + 430 = 25,650
feet, or upon 51,350,000 pounds from the height of one foot.
It is not my purpose to discuss the exactness of these
computations, but only to show that the two expressions of
energy elaborated in this work are absolute antithetics, with
distinct although correlative bases, both of which are capable
of numerical development in opposite directions from molecular into cosmical quantities and functions, in like manner
as I have graphically developed them in prior chapters.  By
applying both methods of treatment to this subject, we discover and prove the positive and mighty energies of the molecular forces of attraction and repulsion, when, in propagating
themselves in opposite directions through matter, they act and
react upon molecules as local offshoots and functions of their
concentrated cosmical cognates.  Springing from  perennial
fountains of power-from the condensing and reacting energies
of a planet surcharged with antagonistic forces unceasingly
propagated through all its molecular elements from centre to
circumference, and vice versa, in order not only to execute
elaborate local designs, but also to sustain its dynamical relations to the sun and other cosmical bodies-we further discover how impossible it is for matter anywhere to be inactive
or forceless; that where heat, light, magnetism, electricity,
cohesion, and solution exist, there attraction and repulsion,
as molecular and cosmical energetics, are sleepless in their
penetrative anid propagative functions; and that forces can




MECHBANICAL FORCE.                  313
be no more really static than matter and masses can be really
inert.
All this eternal activity of molecular forces-dynamical
even in their inceptive propagation and action in crystallization-we shall, further on, be convinced is inseparably associated with cosmical force and motion, and wholly dependent
upon the ellipticity of the earth's orbit, and the eccentric
relations of the sun to this orbit-a point difficult at present
to comprehend.  Meantime we will continue awhile our
minute study and discussions upon the mysterious method of
transmission of force through matter, in order the better to
understand the marvellous subtlety of these agents of Divine
power, and the dependence of every class of phenomenamechanical, chemical, and vital-upon simple modifications
in quantity and action of these identical agents.
In the platinum  experiment we not only saw the marvellous force of attraction demonstrated so far as to expose
the secret property of adhesion and definite laws of quantity,
as the eight hundred volumes of oxygen affiliated themselves
with the spongy metal and tenaciously clung to it, but we also
learned the amazing velocity with which molecules themselves
-solid matter-can be transported by pure attractive force, and
pulled into the minutest interstices of an element for which
this force has special affinity, and through whose molecules it
incessantly and silently flows with extremest fluency, inconceivable subtlety, and remarkable exclusiveness. The discovery of the true mechanism of heat-that combustion itself
is simply intensest vibration of molecules-molecular motion
-resulting from the antithetic propagation and interference
of repulsion and attraction, as dynamic radicals, through and
between all forms of matter, by which the latter may be disintegrated, decomposed, and transformed;-this profound fact
is an incidental consequence of our critical analysis, and is
highly important, inasmuch as it clearly denmonstrates that
heat, light, and combustion, magnetism, electricity, and chemical affinity, per se, are elevated above all substantial conditions, and that, as elements of motion convertible into




314               FORCE ANTD NATURE.
mechanical power, through wheels, levers, steam, waterfalls,
&c., they are absolute forces in themselves COMPOUNDED of
attraction and repulsion, and capable of direction by human
ingenuity into special channels for the development of intellectual designs.
26.
But we wish to grapple with these forms of mechanical
force in their most profound conditions of existence, and in
their most silent and hidden methods of propagation, and to
detect them, if possible, as separate and differentiated molecular energetics stealing through, and connected by, material
channels of communication with those central forces of the
planet from which they flow, and a part of which indeed they
-are when considered integrally as cosmical units of repulsion
and attraction.  In order to expose these important conditions, we will experiment once more upon the same simple
elements of nature, but in a somewhat different manner.
It is well known that when oxygen and hydrogen in any
proportions are simply mingled together, they will remain in
contact as disunited gases for indefinite periods, undergoing
no physical change whatever. When, however, slips of pure,
clean platinum are suspended in the midst of this mixture,
the molecular and massive repulsion existing in the two
gaseous bodies, as expansive potential energy, immediately
begins to vanish; and enormous quantities of attraction,
as positive dynamic energy, more or less rapidly replace it,
pulling every molecule into that state of juxtaposition demanded by their union to form  water. So prodigious is
this amount of attractive energy, viewed as a dynamical
-agent, found to be when reduced to numbers-if, for instance,
one pound of hydrogen and eight pounds of oxygen alone
be submitted to this experiment-that its equivalent is
represented by the mechanical power that will raise 47,000,000
pounds one foot high!-and the whole amount of this attrac



MECH2iAICAL FORCE.                 315
tion, as abstract and absolute force, has evidently been
induced to enter silently and insensibly from without in a
very brief period.
Now, I inquire, whence comes so stealthily all this mighty
volume of energy-the veritable vis viva in rational mechanics
-whose potency as a positive dynamical agent, subject to
human direction as working power, has been determined with.an exactness which no physicist questions? The platinum
undergoes not the slightest change. The water generated by
the presence of the metal weighs the same as the two gases
before their condensation and union; and when separated
again into its original elements, neither oxygen nor hydrogen
has lost a molecule in substance or an iota in weight. Forces
alone have glided in and out with the silence and celerity of
thought, replacing each other and showing conclusively that
the platinum is the mediate agent which induces and conducts the efflux and influx of this vast and effective sum of
exterior and. imponderable power. The energy which enters
to combine, condense, and liquefy these gases is the antithetic
of, and is as a mathematical quantity dynamically equal to,
that which separates and expands them from water into their
original elements, volumes, and conditions.'Where and how
are these forces stored? Whence come these voluminous
imponderable energies so suddenly, swiftly, or incessantly, in
order to execute with such intensity, periodic alternation, regularity, and apparent intellectuality and foresight, the physical
mutations of elements, the oscillations of the pendulum, the
liftJing and falling of the trip-hammer, the movements of the
beam and shuttle, the processes of formation and decay and
of life and death upon the surface of the planet, extending
even into the developments of homologies and reversing
homotypes in vertebrate and axial organisms, and even differentiating the sexes, and determining the numerical equalization in all the varieties of the human species? Vast and
amazing questions! But holding firmly the thread with which
we began this bewildering journey, let us trust that the earth
and heavens will at last answer and give up their secrets.




316                FORCE AND NATURE.
27.
Were  our planet composed  exclusively  of the  three
elements, oxygen, hydrogen, and platinum, charged with the
same cosmical forces of attraction and repulsion now stored in
it, similar processes of condensation and expansion, varied or
repeated over and over again, might periodically occur with
each rotation and sidereal revolution. But, composed as it is
of multiform elements, whose atomic functions consist in
differentiating fixed numerical- amounts of these two forces
which they respectively appropriate and continuously assimilate to themselves-functions constituting their peculiar differences of chemical character, and endowing them with their
relative affinities and repulsions for each other, and which
indeed constitute their very secret power of catalysis also;our planet thus composed, we behold at a glance that these
two cosmical forces of which I treat are not only subdivided
and distributed between a thousand different forms and conditions of matter in order to execute mechanical acts and
unfold creative designs through all, varying their relative
proportions in each (creating density and traction in gold and
platinum, for instance, expansion and tension in hydrogen and
nitrogen, &c;, and mixed conditions in all), but that they
are capable withal of darting with inconceivable swiftness
from point to point in order to establish equilibrium when
local or chemical energies are disturbed, and of transforming themselves instantly from molecular and chemical into
cosmical and mechanical expressions of potential power.
Having discovered that attraction as abstract, metaphysical,
imponderable energy, an absolute dynamic agent per se, can
glide through platinum with such startling facility, subtlety,
and swiftness as to pull irresistibly together and condense a
volume of oxygen molecules into eight hundred times less
space than they normally occupy, and also to pull together and
condense eight pounds of oxygen and one of hydrogen, when
mingled together, so as to exhibit an act of mechanical power




MECHANICAL FORCE.                    317
equivalent to the lifting of a ton weight through a perpendicular height of 25,220 feet, we will inquire, on the other
hand, if its antithetic, repulsion, is likewise living abstract
imponderable energy, an absolute potential dynamic agent
per se; what its numerical value really is, in comparison
with that of attraction; and whence it also really springs.
It might be sufficient for my purpose to allude only to the
reverse action of platinum, whereby repulsive force, separating
itself simultaneously and with equal dynamic energy from
these condensing gases, is conducted outwards in order to
reunite with and diffuse itself into the general volume of
terrestrial repulsion, which act I may here be.permitted to say
is proved by the intense heat generated in the metal in consequence of the intense vibration of its molecules produced by
the swift propagation of these antithetic forces in opposite
directions-a fact in itself conclusive of the existence of the
laws and properties appertaining to matter and force of which
I treat, and the dual functions of which have not heretofore
been clearly defined and understood. To allude only to this
reverse action of platinum suspended in these gases might
suffice to establish the theorem, without adverting to other
proofs; but various substances execute the same catalytic
functions in a very definite and palpable'manner - and it will
not be long before scientific men will recognise that these
metastases of force, darting in opposite ways, at the same
time and with the subtlety of thought, are incessant, universal, and more or less active through all matter, and that they
constitute the radical bases, the very mechanism indeed, of
all n*atural phenomena, and of physical and vital mutation.
Solution-destruction  of cohesion and continuity-is a
palpable result of this' instantaneous metastasis and absorption of repulsive force from without, as expansive molecular
energy. It springs to the inner parts of bodies with greater
or less quickness, and exercises in them the same function
which it exercised in other matter before entering the former.
This phenomenon is so common, constant, and universal, as
to attract little attention or philosophical consideration.




318                FORCE AND NA TURE.
Nitre and Glauber's salt, for instance, thrown into water,
instantly begin to disunite; and there are many acid and alkaline salts which dissolve with remarkable rapidity. While
in the former cases of condensation and crystallization, by
the inflowing or catalysis of attractive force, more or less.
heat is manifested, we observe in the latter, on the contrary,,
that not only does the fluid itself become instantly colder,
but also that all surrounding substances are simultaneously
reduced in temperature and condensed, as they give up their
repulsive or expansive forces in order to produce this phenomenon of solution or destruction of cohesion in crystals and
solids. This fact is clearly established by the condensation
of atmospheric vapour upon vessels into which repulsion has
been induced to flow and concentrate during the processes of
solution going on within them.
The volatilization of all the ethers is a phenomenon of the
same character.
The instantaneous expansion of liquid carbonic acid is
another example. And so, by multiplying similar illustrations,
the swiftness of this metastasis or translation of external
repulsive force can be traced from slower to quicker degrees
of activity, until we at last discover it rushing into those
compound forms of matter called gunpowder, gun-cotton,
nitro-glycerine, &c. with inconceivable velocity, producing
instantaneous expansion, and developing measurable sums
of mechanical energy, as we observe in the condensation of
oxygen and hydrogen into water.
There is another experimental fact of a mixed character,
and so remarkable in its bearing upon this point of our analysis, that I will present it in the clear language of my friend,
Baron Von Liebig.  In treating upon our ignorance of the
nature of physical forces, that illustrious philosopher says:
" We have recently become acquainted with a large number
"of phenomena of which we hardly know which of all the
"known forces or causes have a share in producing them.
"In former ages men would have hastened to deduce from
"this the existence of peculiar forces till then unknown.




MECH.N3ICAL FORCE.                   319
"This we no longer do, because we are conscious of our
"ignorance in reference to the peculiarities of the known
"forces, especially of the so-called molecular forces, cohesion
"and affinity.
" If we place in a common champagne glass a solution,
"saturated at a high temperature, of Glauber's salt in water
"(two parts of the salt to one of water), and allow it to cool,
"the salt crystallizes, and the liquid congeals to a thick mass
"of crystals, like ice. If the same glass be half filled with
"the hot solution, its mouth covered with a plate of glass, a
" watch-glass, or a card, and then allowed to cool, the liquid,
"after ten hours or more, deposits no crystals, not even when
"the covering is removed.  If we now  immerse in it a
" common glass rod, the most beautiful needles.and plates of
"Glauber's salt are formed from  the surface of the rod, and
" in a few seconds the congelation is complete. The liquid
"is in a glass vessel, but, although in contact with glass,
"does not crystallize; another portion of glass, that had not
"cooled with it, instantly causes crystallization.  This ap" pearance is sufficiently remarkable; but still more striking
"is the fact, that if we heat one end of the same glass rod for
"a few minutes in the flame of a spirit-lamp, and then allow
"it to cool, the rod at that end is quite without action on the
" crystallization of the salt.  It may be immersed in the
" liquid, and moved about in it, without causing the slightest
"change.  But if we turn the rod round, and touch the
"liquid with the other end which has not been heated,
"crystallization at once ensues. To a superficial observation,
"the rod seems as if it now had poles, like a bar-magnet. At
"one end it retains a property which it has lost by the
"action of heat at the other. If left exposed to free air, it
"gradually recovers the lost power; but if inclosed in a shut
"vessel, it continues inactive on the solution for ten or
"fourteen days.  Even after being dipped in water, and
"allowed to dry in the air, it has not recovered its lost
"efficacy.
" We have a sufficient explanation of the effect of motion




320                FORCE JND AZTURE.
" on crystallization;- but the action of heat on the property
"possessed by the glass rod of causing crystallization is, up to
"this time, utterly unexplained and obscure."
In direct connexion with the preceding phenomenon Baron
Liebig describes another, which being also a-propos to our
subject, I will cite, in order the more clearly to delineate the
translation of both attractive and repulsive force as pure
entities, specialized and contra-distinguishable from each other
by their effects, and acting as absolute mechanical energy
translating molecules, and showing  at the same time the
definite correlation of mechanical and chemical force, and
demonstrating the differences in the abstract nature of elementary matter for accepting and rejecting these forces as
radical mechanical powers or energetics.
"If we place a copper-plate engraving on the top of a
" shallow open pasteboard box, on the bottom of which lies a
"little iodine, and thus expose it for a few minutes to the
" vapours of iodine, such as rise at ordinary temperatures; and
"if we then press it firmly on a sheet of paper which, like
"machine-made paper, has been sized with starch jelly, and is
"moistened with very diluted sulphuric acid; we obtain, on
"this paper, a most exact impression of the engraving in the
" most beautiful azure blue.  If this blue impression be laid
"on a polished copper-plate; the blue lines gradually dis" appear, and the image now appears in perfect distinctness on
"the copper.  A copper-plate, a drawing, even an oil-paint"ing, when exposed for a short time to the iodine-vapours, are
"reproduced on a plate of silver; and when this plate is now
"exposed, as in the daguerreotype,. to the vapour of mercury,
"treated in the usual way,-a beautiful daguerreotype picture is
"obtained, but without the aid of light.  It is here quite
"obvious that the dark parts of the copper-plate, or of the
"drawing, have attracted and condensed the vapour of the
"iodine in a much higher degree than the white paper.  A
"moist surface, containing starch jelly, attracts the iodine from
"the dark parts; on the paper appears the blue iodide of
"starch, as a blue copy of the engraving.  A plate of copper,




MECHANIC.AL FORCE.                  321
"again, attracts the iodine from the blue compound, and on
"the copper appears a copy in iodide of copper.
"It is evident that the white paper, the black colour or
" ink, the starch, and the copper have very unequal attractions
" for the iodine; and that the cause of the condensation of the
"iodine is identical with that which effects the condensation
"of gases in general on the surface of bodies. The ink of the
"engraving attracts the iodine, but no true chemical com"pound has been formed; for the properties of the black
"colour remain unchanged, and the iodine has only had its
"volatility destroyed or diminished; it acts on starch like free
"iodine.
"By these phenomena," continues Liebig, "we are in"voluntarily reminded of one of the most remarkable occur"rences in the human body-namely, the part played in the
"respiratory process by the solid parts or globules of the
"blood."
These examples will be sufficient to present the fact, and
convey my idea, of the distinct and positive capacities of
matter to receive and to be acted upon by translations of attractive force, whereby condensation and cohesion are effected,
and to receive and be acted upon by translatiohs of repulsive
force in a contrary manner, whereby solution, expansion, explosion, projection, and radiation are effected; and to direct
attention to the more profound truths, that all displays of
chemical and mechanical energy upon the planet's surface are
not only identical forms of action in the abstract, but resultants also of the same principles which spring from and return
into those general volumes of binary and chaotic dynamic
energies which constitute the central forces of the planetforces which, on one hand, compel all its molecules to cohere
into a ball, endowing it with local and chemical as well as
with  centripetal, centrifugal, and rotatory functions, and
which, on the other hand, act and react with instantaneous
mechanical effect in harmony with cognate solar forces adjusting  its heliocentric movements, and determining the
eccentricity of its orbit.
Y




322                FORCE AND XNTURE.
Call the local, experimental, and limited phenomena to
which I allude  "simple chemical processes," "modes of
motion," &c., apply to them any name whatever, constructed
out of any tongue, or indicated by any symbols, the point
which I hold and aim to establish is that the force which
effects solution, decomposition, explosion, and radiation anywhere and everywhere, far from being what physicists theoretically pronounce " latent heat " in the body itself, is pure
abstract terrestrial repulsion, which, existing outside of it,
suddenly darts into, and is transfused among the molecules
of, the body in question; that this force springs directly, and
with inconceivable swiftness, from, and is a part of, the same
general stock of repulsive force, stored in the globe from its
centre to its outmost boundary, which was apportioned to the
planet in the beginning as a given quantum  convertible into
all sorts of uses for definite ends in the economy of the
cosmos, and which, uniting and disuniting with its co-ordinate
and coefficient of attraction, constitutes the veritable vis viva
-the mechanical energy-so computable by numbers in its
relations to matter wherever studied throughout its entire.
range of chemical and physical aspects and possibilities.
28.
MiutualCon-    It is at this point that all the phenomena of
vertibilityof  electrolysis unite with our generalizations, and
various Forms
of Force.   that molecular physics as a series of phenomenal
principles are clearly seen to radiate from and converge into
cosmical physics. From this point of view all voltaic, magnetic, and electric batteries appear like so many instruments
arrayed to demonstrate the truth we propound.  Here, moreover, the entire store of facts garnered by experimental and
theoretical chemistry legitimately falls in to confirm and establish our deductions.  For inasmuch as we have proved by
plain uncomplicated platinum  experiments that the forces




MI3ECHANICAL FORCE.                323
which execute the composition and decomposition of the
physical elements are simple attraction and repulsion, it follows that all the conditions and mutations of these elements
and of their compounds are effected and determined by transfers alone of greater or lesser quantities of these forces, from
one point to another, with greater or less degrees of rapidity.
If heat be generated in virtue of these metastases, we are
now in a position, in consequence of preceding researches, to
know that it is not heat PER SE which efects molecular, chemical,
and mechanical changes. For heat and cold are proved by
experiment to be only sensible results of motion, or secondary
properties and afections of matter, arising from instantaneous
translations and mutual interferences of our two radical forces
of attraction and repulsion. These forces, propagating themselves from molecule to molecule and from mass to mass in
antithetical directions, thus generate vibrations which in turn
combine and amplify themselves into sensible motion, and
develop by their intensity, regularity, or confusion, the entire
series of thermic, luminous, magnetic, electric, and actinic
phenomena constituting the alpha and omega of chemical and
mechanical science. All these multifarious states of matter
have been shown by Faraday, and other reliable experimenters, to be more or less cognate and convertible one into
the other, and into motion and mechanical power. And
Mayer and Joule, with singular sagacity and untiring patience
and zeal, have enlightened the world by extending their investigations so far as to determine, not only that each of these
special functions of matter is convertible into the other, but
also that they all are the exact numerical equivalents of one
another as agents of mechanical power; and that as all spring
from motion, all are convertible back again into motion; thus
establishing the fact of conservation of force in one form or
another as the element of mechanical power, and proving
that, like matter, it is only a given quantity in the economy
of nature.
v2




324                FORCE AND i    AT URE.
29.
Conservation    From  otir present commanding point of view
of Energy.   we may see further, and discover even how motioh
can be ultimately resolved into its binary molecular elements
of attraction and repulsion, and how  these latter forces
expand into their cosmical cognates, and so into mechanicocosmic motion and cosmical phenomena of every description.
And from the manner in which the entire subject of "force"
has been developed in the preceding pages, we may behold
the prophetic and grand idea of Faraday consummated in
the discovery even of the conservation of gravity itself, and
of the correlation of all forms of mechanical energy with
gravitation, through its co-ordinate of cosmical repulsion.
For we shall soon be convinced that all displays of thermic,
magnetic, and electric force in the planet, and consequently
every impulse of mechanical energy and every mechanical act
upon its surface, are allied inseparably with, and dependent
for their ceaseless activities and periodic intensities upon, the
ellipticity of the planet's orbit, and the eccentric relations of
the sun to this orbit.
To recur for a moment to what has immediately preceded,
we learn that there is no such condition or entity in nature,
strictly speaking, as "latent heat;" that heat, and its equivalents of magnetism, &c., are generated at the instant by the propagation of antithetic forces, and during the processes of their
metastases or translations, thus exciting molecules and masses
to action and reaction, developing and propagating mechanical
energy of one form or another, as these forces dart froin point
to point, and from  centres to centres, to unite with their
cognates, in order to restore the disturbed equilibrium of
cosmical, telluric, and local powers; that thermic, magnetic,
and electric tension, and intensities even, are, after all, as has
been long suspected, only temporary and local accumulations
of microscopic wave-movements, or vibrations of molecules
dependent upon translations of the pure unsubstantial forces




j2ECHAINICAL FORCE.                 325
of repulsion and attraction from one place to another, and
upon the interferences of these forces one with the other in
the process of their passage through, combination with, and
separation from molecules; that such vibrations, subtilized,
quickened, and intensified or otherwise by the specific character and capacities of the different elements of nature-as
of platinum  and oxygen, on one hand, for instance, and of
bismuth and carbon, on the other-and by the infinite energies
and capacities of attraction and repulsion, constitute physical and sensible phenomena corresponding proportionally in
intensity to the sum of the causes employed in generating
them; and, finally, that mechanical motion, as a numerical
equivalent of heat, and so forth, is the immediate product
and the exact sum of the actions and reactions of attraction
and repulsion in molecules, generating at first insensible
vibrations, which develop subsequently into sensible conditions and creative results.  Heat per se, therefore, is never
"latent," nor is it independent mechanical and productive
energy.  Neither can electricity nor magnetism be so. And
since heat can only be generated in the fall of bodies by actual
impact, and by the resistances, interferences, and reaction of
molecules and of the molecular forces incident to the moment
and matter in question, and never by the incomplete act of
merely falling and approximating without collision, it must
be apparent that repulsion is practically an essential element
in the development of all thermic phenomena. Similar physical conditions co-exist in friction, compression, condensation,
expansion, and every other form of material violence, whether
it be applied upon resin, india-rubber, bismuth, glass, iron,
copper, or platinum.  Reaction of molecules co-exists with
compression, repulsion with attraction, everywhere and under
all circumstances.  Hence all these phenomena and various
modifications of force and motion are universally and necessarily the numerical equivalents of repulsion and attraction,
and are the simple methods by which gravitation itself is
conserved  and  maintained as an everlasting fountain  of
regenerated and regenerating power.  Such is mechanical




326               PFORCE AND NATURE.
force il its abstract conditions, in its transitions through
material connexions into sensible phenomena and numerical
functions, and in its effective results of motion, production,
and material creation.
30.
It is not the design of this work to enter at large upon the
discussion of heat and other secondary forms of force as' modes of motion," or as agents or varieties of mechanical
power. Recent elaborate researches upon this subject by illustrious physicists have demonstrated its importance, without
exhausting its possibilities, reac it  iilit, r hing its foundations, or lifting
it above speculation.  Neither is my aim so much to combat
the leading scientific doctrines and mechanical theories at
present inculcated, as to call attention to the assumpltions at
their foundations, which, as experimental truths lead us into
wider fields of contemplation, seem insufficient to support the
conclusions derived from daily observation of natural phenomena, or meet the demands of exact science.  The recent
advances made by Mayer and Joule in new paths of discovery are rendering all antecedent hypotheses unstable,
while the very hypotheses founded upon these discoveries
seem already so fragile as to tremble or fall at the slightest
touch.  That the imperfect observations and preconceptions
of Thales, Anaximander, Pythagoras, and Empedocles upon
space, infinitude, number, antagonism, and affinity hold definite and prophetic relations to the solid discoveries of Copernicus, Newton, Faraday, Mayer, Kirchhoff, and Liebig, all
will admit; and that the truths contained in the various
ancient and modern systems of philosophy will sooner or
later be generalized as results of simple conditions and comprehensible laws of nature, few will doubt.  My object is, if
possible, to reach the thread by which all physical laws are
united to one another.
If the principles of mechanical force-that is to say, of the




MECHANICAL FORCE.                  327
mechanism of attraction and repulsion, as the binary elements,of potential energy and dynamic action thus far unfolded —be
applied to phenomena, the most striking or the most obscure,
taken at random from any department of physical nature,
the soundness of our deductions may be conclusively tested.
Approach the wonderful field of electrical phenomena, in
order to understand the mechanism  of the thunderstorm,
for instance. Knowing that all secondary forces are convertible into each other, and so into motion, and vice versd,
and that the radical elements-the vires vivce-of motion
are molecular repulsion and attraction  expanding  from
zero progressively to  amplitudes and possibilities commensurate with matter and the oscillating functions of the
cosmos; recognising the absoluteness and universality of
these laws, and remembering that evaporation, the radiation
and expansion of vapour, are directly or inductively affected
by cosmic repulsive force; we may well conclude, when condensations suddenly occur in the higher regions of the atmosphere, attraction thus replacing repulsion, that the latter
must be instantly liberated, and become an independent
volume of active energy, ready to burst on the instant into
new relations with other volumes of force and matter, or rush
back to its original connexions and sources. That it does not
become latent is manifest by evidences too sensible, striking,
and positive to be mistaken. Compelled by natural affinities
to unite with its cosmical cognate, in order to restore an
equilibrium which has been momentarily disturbed, it darts
with inconceivable swiftness to other places in the atmosphere, or directly to the earth itself. Conducted along the
shortest possible paths by the atmospheric gases and vapours,
the mechanical effects of its propagation are not only made
sensible by sudden developments of light and sound-intense
local vibrations dispersed into wide undulations of molecules,
simple modifications of subtlety and intensity in molecular
action and reaction-but by the production of ozone also;
which condition of oxygen we know is generated by its simple
condensation-or, speaking accurately, by the liberation of




328                 FORCE AND NATURE.
portions of the repulsive forces with which this gas is naturally endowed. Thus demonstrable translations of repulsive
force not only create motion, light, and sound, but odour alsoanother undulatory phenomenon, or secondary force of matter,
fitted to impinge upon and supply another animal sense with
its necessary aliment.  Moreover, this sudden snatching of
repulsion from  oxygen is effected in the same manner as
from  aqueous vapour and solid forms of matter.  And, in
order to show conclusively that the mechanical element of
electricity is the pure abstract principle of repulsive forcethe molecular and cosmical agent which is taught throughout
this work to be an independent principle, yet the co-efficient
of attraction, incessantly oscillating with the latter to maintain everywhere that same unstable equilibrium established
primordially in nature, in consequence of the unequal distribution of these two forces in different elements, different
worlds, different systems, and in different regions of the
universe;-in order to demonstrate this great truth, it is only
necessary to refer to the sudden formation of hail and ice in
the higher strata of the atmosphere during electrical storms.
These congelations could never take place without the instantaneous reabsorptions of repulsion as dynamic and expansive
force; for, when aqueous vapour is condensed into water at
temperatures above 40~ Fahrenheit, repulsive force is liberated,
and below  this temperature it enters again as an active
element of mechanical power.
31.
The Coincidence  it is in this connexion that I recall with veneof Ancient and ration the many discussions and marvellously
Modern Observations, and  acute speculations of certain of the ancient HeltheirAstrono- lenic philosophers. For Heraclitus, five hundred
mical Bearing
uponMecharii- years before our era, distinctly taught (although,
cal Theories so far as is known, without experimental or mechanical knowledge) that the principles of cosmic and perpetual
motion were those which constitute heat and fire. Fifty




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   329
years later, Empedocles and Anaxagoras insisted that, in
regard to both force and matter, LIKE peepetncally strives to
affiliate and coalesce with LIKE, in order to form  unions
and unities; and that elements separate and decompose by
antagonistic forces only to come together again, and thus
generate and maintain perpetual change and unending life
and mind.  Not only was the birth of modern chemistry
and electrolysis foreshadowed in these wonderfully profound
ideas, but also every discovery in natural and experimental
science tends to illustrate their general accuracy. For even
in the formation of ozone by the electric spark the chemist
has now ascertained that only a closer juxtaposition, a simple
condensation of oxygen molecules, takes place. And thus it
necessarily follows, that a portion of the repulsion normally
inherent in oxygen as molecular force is liberated, alienated,
and transferred to the cosmic current of its cognate, as this
latter propagates itself in volume swiftly and violently from
one locality to another through oxygen, in the natural process
of restoring equilibria in telluric energies which had been
previously disturbed.
The secret mechanism  of this phenomenon-the abstraction and absorption of repulsive force by its cognate, from
material forms-made so sensible to the olfactories in the
ozonization of oxygen, becomes equally sensible to the eye,
and comprehensible to the mind, when traced in its results
upon solid bodies.  The brain, spinal marrow, and nerves,
heart, muscles, and even the blood corpuscles, of all living
things instantly alienate and transfer their vibratory or
moleculo-motive force-pure dynamic and working energyto passing currents, thus yielding the only physical condition,
the mediate principle, so to speak, upon which life, instinct,
and mind hang in their connexion with matter; while trees,
and other inanimate things, split and burst open in the act
of discharging the molecular repulsion of their innermost
parts into the cosmic volume of kindred forces, as the latter
are propagated through or near these objects toward or from
the earth's centre.  The frequent occurrence of ignition




330                 FORCE AND NATURE.
during these translations of cosmic force through combustible
bodies, as oxygen and carbon, proves the active tension and
reactionary function of repulsive force, as pure mechanical
energy, in every molecule, and in every line and locality
where thermic conditions are manifested.
Thunderbolts, therefore, like all other forms of fire, are only
intensest agitations of molecules induced by inconceivably
swift and subtle translations of repulsive force through then
from one point to another; which force, encountering resistances and interferences of antagonistic forces and of its
own counter-currents, generates that undulatory action and
reaction in matter known as vibrations, heat, light, electricity,
and magnetism, every form and degree of which are functions
of the same forces possessing equal numerical values, and
alike convertible and decomposable into repulsion and attraction, the vires vivce of mechanical power, and of impulsive
and projectile motion.
Thus the germs, existing in the subtle intuitions, speculative culture, and general scientific conclusions of Grecian
thought, dormant for a thousand years, in consequence of
social disorders incident to the fall of Imperial and rise of
Papal power at Rome, revived by the Arabians at Bagdad and
Cordova in the birth of experimental physics and alchemy,
developed in the successive labours of Stahl, Black, Franklin,
Rumford, Mayer, Faraday, and Tyndall, at last blossom in the
positive philosophy of the present day. Thus the source of
all transitive, mechanical, and creative power may be demonstrated to exist in that same secret elementum ignis which was
suspected by the ancients, sought after during the revival of
learning in the " philosopher's stone," dimly seen in " phlogiston," approached in "caloric," almost reached in the experiments upon " heat as a mode of motion," and which has now
probably been grasped at last in the simple antithetic play
through molecules of the conflicting forces of attraction and
repulsion, creating vibrations whose infinitely subtle actions
and reactions are the absolute fire itself. Thus the conflicting
"love" and "hate" existing in atoms and in all things, so




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   331
distinctly taught by Heraclitus and Empedocles, as the universal element of "fire" (English words, without doubt, inac~curately expressing the peculiar idioms and the real ideas
of the ancients), is represented in modern physics by the
words " attraction " and " repulsion " and " chemical affinities,"
analogous principles capable of uniting " like to like," and
of maintaining perpetual mutations among the elements and
their compounds. And when it is considered that the secret
principles of mechanical power have only lately been comprehended as correlative, measurable, and numerical functions of
the radical forces of molecules, and that it is only after several
centuries of incessant experimental inquiry, and after a rigorous analysis of facts derived from every department of nature,
independently of all theories, that we are now able to elevate
the entire subject of physics from the realms of empiricism,
we may well venerate the wisdom of the Grecian sages, whose
hypothetical knowledge of first principles was not short of
that of our own times. Even in the highest departments of
physical inquiry modern scholars may not be less surprised
at the penetrating genius of the ancients.  For it is indeed
astonishing to hear Aristotle, 2,150 years ago, when summing up the scientific observations and general learning
of antiquity, declare that earthquakes  are the  results
of the moving of "spirit "-a sort of unsubstantial windwithin the planet, and that these phenomena are in some
way influenced by the path of the sun; a remarkable expression in view of the deductions drawn from the immense stores
of facts collected by Perrey, Mallet, and myself, upon which
I long since announced the cosmic law, that the general
intensity of dynamic reaction, from the planet's centre to its
exterior, is inversely proportional to the length of the radius
vector. Equally remarkable is the declaration of Aristotle,
that earthquakes occur more frequently in the night than
in the daytime; since numerical results from modern data,
noted upon my records for the whole planet, by hours and
minutes, confirm that statement in proportions of 9 to 7, when
the twenty-four hours are divided equally, from 6 A.M. to




332                  FORCE AND N  TURE.
6 P.M.; and for the four hours of midnight and mid-day respectively, as 71 to 53, or almost as 3 to 2. The earthquake
catalogues of the British Association for the Advancement of
Science so conclusively confirm the results of my own tables,
that there is no room  to  doubt that Aristotle must have
possessed, not only ample data for his statement, but also
prolonged observations carefully discussed, in order to have
reached so profound and important a truth. His conclusions,
based upon events occurring previous to 300 B.c., and, as we
must naturally  suppose, limited  to  comparatively  narrow
regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are now substantiated by
the combined facts observed throughout the planet, since the
fourth century of our era, prior to which no hourly dates
have been discovered. In order to settle this point beyond
doubt, and at the same time to applaud the acumen of that
ancient philosopher, I will subjoin the hourly data, which
I have tabulated from the catalogues heretofore published by
the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the
authority of which is endorsed by common scientific consent.
TABLE I.
From June 20, A.D. 431, to July 19, 1784.
Day.   A..                    Noon.                      P.M.
Hours  6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6
Totals  60  49  64  41  41   54  51  37  57  43  5.8  51.
TABLE II.
From June 20, A.D. 431, to July 19, 1784.
Night.  P.M.                   Midnight.                  A.M
Hours  6-7 7-8 8-9 9-10 10-1111-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6
Totals,  5.1  57  41  68   79   88  81  61  63  72  80  63




MECHANICAL FORCE.                          333
In these tables the proportions for day and night, of twelve
hours each, are respectively as 67 to 89.  For the eight-hour
periods of mid-day and midnight, they stand as 87 to 124;
and for the four-hour periods of mid-day and midnight, as 61
to 103.
TABLE III.
From August 27, A;D. 1784, to December 4, 1842.
Day.   A.M.                    Noon.                       P.M.
Hours  6-7 7-8 8-9 9-1010-11 11-1212-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6
Totals  60  70  62  55   69'61  44  49  52  45  56  53
TABLE IV.
From August 27, A.D. 1784, to December 4, 1842.
Night.  P.M.                   Midnight.                   A.M.
Hours  6-7  7-8  8-9 9-10 10-11 11-12 12-1 1-2 2-3 3-4 4-5 5-6
Totals  47  61  82  80   93   98  93  90 125 114  91  80
As we come nearer to our own time, we find the dates of
seismic occurrences more accurately and particularly recorded;
and the relative numbers for day and night are the more
striking and remarkable. The discussions of the last tables
present, for the twelve hours of day and night respectively,
the proportions of nearly 2 to 3-or, in exact figures, of 676 to
1,054; for the eight-hour periods of mid-day and midnight, as
36 to 67; and for the four-hour periods relatively, as 96 to 161.
The entire catalogues of the British Association, published in
1858, approximately show the results to read: 1,282 for the




334                FORCE AND NATURE.
hours between 6 A.M. and 6 P.M., and 1,859 for the corresponding twelve hours of the night.
Beside the pleasure enjoyed in rendering just homage to
the sagacity, refined scholarship, and acute philosophical
spirit of the Grecian sages, many of whose theories would
no doubt be substantially confirmed by modern experimental
inquiry, if peculiarities of Athenian thought and idiomatic
turns of ancient speech, long lost, could be now clearly
understood and interpreted, I feel especial satisfaction in
being able to link the researches and deductions of modern
science and philosophy with what may have been solid in the
observations of antiquity. The opinions of Aristotle upon
seismic phenomena in connexion with cosmic possibilities,
considered as the conclusion of preceding observations up to
his time, are now seen to be verified by numerical analyses of
modern data.
Embracing all these earlier and later facts and inferences
in a single category, and reducing them  to their absolute
weight and just astronomical value, we shall perceive among
the higher deductions flowing therefrom, not only that the
intensities of earthquake and volcanic phenomena are modified and governed by the ellipticity of the earth's orbit and
the eccentric relations of the sun to that orbit, but also that
the rotation of the planet itself is directly connected with the
reactions of its interior upon its exterior, and, through these
phenomena, with its diurnal relations to the central body of
our system.  Herein we behold the fact demonstrated that
the principles of mechanical powers which originally determined the planet's trajectory and still sustain its projectile
motion, which originated and continue its axial rotations,
and which instituted gravitations and reactions from centre
to surface, producing all vibrations, perturbations, displacements, and transpositions locally and generally of its individual
molecules and elements, are not only analogous; but really
identical,-not simply correlated, but absolutely the same
and inseparably united,-dual parts of dual wholes,-con



MECHI NICA4L FORCE.                  335
stituting different expressions of the same cosmic energetics,
only because the conditions are different under which these
energetics  act: and, vice versd, demonstrating that reactionary phenomena-that is to say, the forces which propagate themselves through molecules and masses within the
globe from its centre to its surface, causing earthquakes and
volcanic  eruptions; in  a word, generating  all terrestrial
phenomena, from the motion and decomposition of a drop of
water to the liquefaction of basalt and platinum, or of the
entire globe, including its disruption-are the same which
effect its rotation upon its axis, and its translations around
the sun. Thus these different forms and degrees of material
motion result directly from the ceaseless struggle of attractive
forces in terrestrial molecules to unite with their cognates in
the solar molecules, and the ceaseless effort of repulsion
inherent in molecules and in all bodies to separate themindividually more and more from one another, thereby effecting their centrifugal movements and elongations from  one
another.  Thus mutual attraction and mutual repulsion, in
virtue of the unequal distribution of these forces in cosmic
bodies of different elementary constitutions and magnitudes,
compel these bodies respectively to revolve around each
other at various distances asunder, and to assume trajectories with various degrees of ellipticity, not only deter —
mining thereby the positions of the foci around which
they relatively move, but also the universality of their
sidereal correlations. I desire here to express this induction
clearly, strongly, and definitively, in order to unite the discussions of preceding chapters with the present development
of our subject, and establish it as a connecting link with all
that is to follow.  In the light of a generalization, the
induction is, indeed, a pregnant and striking fact.  But, broad
and important as this truth may appear, it is at the same
time simple; since the principles heretofore developed tend
to bring order out of chaos, and to subdue, so to speak, every
phenomenon of material nature, however wild and intractable in view of existing theories, into obedience to definable



336                 FORCE AND NAITURE.
conditions, and to exact mechanical and mathematical laws
capable of every degree of reduction or development.  The
relation of the molecule to the cosmos, and vice versd, the equal
subjection of both to the same opposing forces, the chemical
and mechanical changes effected by the antithetic propagation
and unequal action of these forces through and upon matter,
and the correlation and mutual dependence of matter and
force of every type and proportion, rise now from obscurity,
and begin to assume definable and comprehensible shapes in
the understanding of philosophers.
32.
he Methods by  Ndw  since heat, as active energy, is known to
whichtheSe- be the exact equivalent of, and convertible into,
condary Forces
are generated. electricity, magnetism, and mechanical motion;
and since I have shown heat to be actually and only the
sensible result of the compound action of cosmic attraction
and cosmic repulsion propagating themselves through molecules in antagonism to each other; it follows that electricity
and magnetism are no more fluids or subtle forms of matter
than heat: and since the action of all is equally subject
to the same numerical laws (that is to say, of intensities
proportionate inversely to squares of distances, and directly
as the sums of molecules acting upon each other) which
govern attraction and repulsion as radical material forces,
further proof is afforded that all originate in the manner
indicated, and that molecular attraction and molecular repulsion are their ultimate springs and elements of power.
The platinum  experiment, whereby was demonstrated the
swift and sensible translation of these physical forces through
special forms of matter from without to their interior, and vice
versd, in order to effect or destroy cohesion, is a plain and
uncomplicated exponent of every act accomplished within
the range of chemical science, whether in the laboratory or




MECH.4ANICAL FORZ C.                337
throughout the masses of associated elements called comets,
planets, and suns, so extensively scattered through space.
Every chemical transmutation is as much the result of pure
induction of one or the other, or of both together (although in
unequal quantities), of the planetary forces of attraction and
repulsion, from without to within, changing forms and affecting
weights, call it electrolysis, affinity, actinism, what we may,
as is every perturbation of the magnetic needle an index of
translations of electric force from one region to another of the
surface of the globe, and an index of mutations in equilibrium
in the central forces of the planet and the sun. When these
functions of nature ascend to such magnitudes as to assume
cosmical proportions, the mind of the philosopher must equally
expand to embrace their elements, and his deductions must
extend upon known principles in order to comprehend the
mighty causes of such startling conditions.  If our globe, for
instance, be an igneous mass of rock and metal, whose central
floods unceasingly react upon and burst open its crust, often
shooting its incandescent elements above its general surface,
we must approach the phenomenon with the clear conviction
that the forces which vibrate through the glowing platinum,
or the molten quartz and metal, in the refiner's furnace, are
only cognates and offshoots of those which vibrate through
and fuse the planets, generate light in comets- and gild the
stars with their dazzling lustre.
33.
Before entering this cosmical field-always interesting and
inviting, though heretofore so obscure-we will briefly consider a few more experimental points, in order to complete
the foundations for subsequent studies, and prepare the mind
for clearer comprehensions of the origin, nature, functions,
connexions, and manifestations of the "mechanical force"
-that working and creative agent of nature-which is now
so skilfully utilized by man.
z




338                FORCE AN i NITURE.
Chemical manipulations of every class plainly show what
has been already illustrated by the platinum, glass-rod, and
iodine experiments, viz. that molecular changes, vibrations,
and motions-solutions and decompositions of masses, however dense or light-cohesions of matter and of compound
substances, however large and varied-are universally effected
by inconceivably swift influxes and effluxes of attraction
and repulsion  as translatable entities, and in quantities
proportional to the work performed. In applying the word
"quantity" to imponderable abstract forces which are only
known by their effects, I would by no means express or imply
ideas of absolute substance in attraction and repulsion,-only
the existence of subtle energies capable of infusing positive power into matter, and of effecting results in like manner
as animal instinct and will, for instance, act through brain,
nerves, muscles, and bones to effect physical and creative
results with the crude elements of nature.  No physicist
questions the metaphysical principle of the energy existent
in these forces; nor will it be questioned that one of these
forces is attraction, the agent which constitutes the very
principle of gravitation itself; nor will it be questioned,
moreover, that this force is reducible from cosmic conditions
and volumes through indefinite divisions and subdivisions,
absolute disruptions and segregations and segmentations, so
to speak, into molecular and infinitesimal quantities. For
weight is only another word for " gravity" or the " attraction
of gravitation;" and the mutual influences playing between
the elements which develop this property so act in all
chemical processes and subdivisions of matter as to present
invariably the same sum of power and function.  The constitution of compound bodies is not only governed by
exact and unchanging laws of atomicity, proportion, and
number, but the diversified weights of their constituents,
when separated by electrolysis, are invariably equal, in the
aggregate, to the gravity of the original mass. The force,
therefore, by which electrolysis is effected is the opposite of
attraction-a force which at the moment and instantly enters




MECHATNICJL FORCE.                 339
and penetrates the mass from without, and is the veritable
force of repulsion, as metaphysical in its abstract character as
attraction; not computable by weight, because it is the antagonist of gravity, but by its effects in overcoming cohesion
and neutralizing chemical affinities; and which, when reduced
to its numerical elements, is found to be exactly equivalent
in its mechanical effects to the falling of masses of various
magnitudes from  different heights.  But, as abstract principles, neither attraction nor repulsion alone is an effective
mechanical agency. It is only when they have entered molecules or masses together, and are propagated in opposite
directions to each other, causing molecules not only to move
and act, but also, and especially, to react, that these forces
develop sensible phenomena, and transform  themselves, in
combination with and through the motion of matter, into
mechanical power.  Such is the mechanism  or process by
which these vast binary volumes of energy, apportioned to the
planet for its general physical activities and phenomenal
developments, are divided, and subdivided, and contributed to
the numerous elements and their compounds constituting its
mass, and by which the same elements and compounds in
turn contribute to sustain the fluctuating translations and
vibratory propagations of this energy. Thus, further, it is
demonstrated how disturbances of equilibrium  are universally generated; and not only how  unstable equilibria
of various kinds and magnitudes are sustained, but how
absolutely necessary they are also in the economy of nature,
in order to perpetuate the mechanical activities of the universe and the creative and progressive designs of a guiding
Providence. For it is in consequence of ceaseless disturbances of equilibrium, everywhere incident to such processes,
that the radical forces of attraction and repulsion are individually inducted, transformed, and exchanged on the instant
by various elementary and compound bodies, thereby generating sensible heat or cold, electric and magnetic attractions
and repulsions, chemical affinity and decomposition, absolute
mechanical motion, and dynamic power.  The reciprocal
z2




340                FORCE AND NATURE.
convertibility of these secondary forces, and their equivalency
as mechanical agents and numerical quantities, having already
been determined by Faraday, Mayer, and Joule, are facts upon
which science can permanently rest.  Thereupon we stand,
and extend our analyses in order, if possible, to grasp the still
more profound conditions in which these secondary principles
receive their wondrous birth.  And in this search we descry
more clearly how all'forms of force are correlated and conserved; and how attraction, governed by those exact laws of
definite, multiple, equivalent, and combining proportions discovered by Richter, swells by gradual accumulations from the
zero of their infinitesimal and molecular states into those
cosmical amplitudes, the numerical elements and reciprocal
relations of which were reduced by Newton to laws of quantity and adjustment equally exact, constant, and harmonious,
and co-extensive even with the entire cosmos. The veil, indeed, rises yet higher, and permits -us to obtain the first distinct
outline of the positive material connexion, and of the mechanical and chemical unity and inseparability, existing between
all celestial bodies. For, now knowing that light and heat
are everywhere and always nothing more or less than subtle
vibrations among the molecules of elementary bodies un,
equally excited by antithetic propagations of attraction and
repulsion-light always differing in colour with the difference
of the element excited by electric polarities, and colour, in
turn, always modifying vibrations, and causing different
degrees of electric intensity and heat;-knowing these facts,
we perceive, when the solar image, or any of its rays, is
dissolved in the prism, and their vibratory peculiarities are
sufficiently magnified, that we can have no other sensible
phenomena presented than we should obtain from the same
chemical elements under intense excitement in our own planet.
The sagacity of Frauenhofer in first observing the spectral lines,
and the genius of Kirchhoff and Bunsen in detecting their
chemical indications, are the more worthy of honour, inasmuch as these eminent scholars were wholly ignorant both of
the physical constitution of the sun and of the elements and




MECHANICAL FORCE.                    341
mechanical motion which lie equally at the base of chemical
and cosmical phenomena.  Since light and heat are subject
to identical laws of quantity and action, and must be everywhere generated by the radical forces of attraction and
repulsion, and in the manner heretofore described and illustrated, it follows that solar light and heat, manifested to our
senses as aggregate quan     s antities and entities, must be constituted of the multiform  and combined vibrations which have
been excited and differentiated by the respective molecular
forces of the various chemical elements and compounds composing the solar mass, whatever the number of the latter,
whether two, "sixty-fou.r," " seven hundred," or "two thousand," as many as may be indicated by their characteristic
lines in the spectral photograph.  Comprehending the full
force of this induction, we shall clearly understand how every
ray of the sun combines and represents the vibrating forces of
"the chemical elements which exist in and constitute the active
internal conditions of the entire solar mass. And for the first
time it now becomes explicable how. one of these rays, dissolved and disintegrated by the analytical power of the prism,
reveals in the magnified spectrum that wonderful alphabet of
Frauenhofer, whose stedfast characters spell out the physical
constitution of the sun, determine with precision the chemical
elements of. stars and comets, and establish the identity of
matter and- material forces in the earth and throughout the
heavens.  Inasmuch as. "like" combines everywhere with
"like," and opposite polarities exist in every known form of
force, the alternation of bright and dark lines, and the replacing of dark lines by bright ones of various hues, in experimental physics, may be legitimately explained by the partial
or total absorption and refraction of those vibrations-that is
to say, of the mechanical elements of solar light which find
their analogies or antitheses, their positives or negatives, so
to speak, in the physical condition of our own globe;-all
these molecular and chemical expressions of force composing
in the aggregate the planetary forces whose reciprocal action
and reaction as cosmical units perpetuate the unstable equilibrium of the celestial motions.




342                FORCE AD) NATURE.
34.
All that has been said of attractive force in connexion with
the preceding subject must equally apply to repulsive force;
since not the slightest vibration can exist or be generated
among molecules, nor can motion be perpetuated in masses
independent of the co-operation of the latter, as an oscillating
function in mechanical power. In like manner as sparks of
electricity or fire, which are simple vibratory foci, or centres
of intense molecular action and reaction-a species of electrophorus for exciting inductions of the attractive and repulsive
forces into the different elementary bodies-in like manner
as sparks will cause a diffuse mixture  of oxygen  and
hydrogen, for instance, to condense instantly into a small
space, forming either a liquid or solid; so will the same sparks
cause compounds of various elements, such as gunpowder,
gun-cotton, nitro-glycerine, &c., to expand instantly into diffuse
and gaseous conditions. If repulsion, viewed as a distinct
and quantitative element of energy, be instantly specialized,
differentiated, and rejected in the first case, reacting with
attraction, and propagating impulses to surrounding objects,
generating heat within, and sound without, the condensing
gases; so, in the last case, an antithetic expression of the
same phenomenon takes place with similar vibratory results.
Both phenomena present positive conditions of dynamic
energy, the developments of which are equally measurable;
and when the conditions are inverted, the physical effects are
found to be numerically equivalent to each other.  The
existence of both forces is necessary to the phenomenal action
of either of them. Every chemical act, whether experimental
or natural, is accomplished by similar binary transfers and
interchanges of these forces, either partial or total, either
nstantly and in volumes with violent, or slowly and in minor
proportions with insensible, or gradual, mechanical effects.
these transfers being  modified by the character of the
elements undergoing mutations.  As the entire phenomena




MTECHANICiL FORCE.                  343
of chemistry are simple results of motion, it follows that
repulsion and attraction are not only the basic forces of
matter, but also the radical elements of mechanical power,
everywhere and under all circumstances.  Since no other
secondary forces than heat, light, electricity, and magnetism,
in one form  or another, are known or found to act as
dynamical agents, either in atoms or planets: and since all
these are reducible to "heat;" heat to motion; motion to
the oscillating functions of repulsion and attraction, as these
forces (viewed in their co     cosmic connexions as universal agents,
acting under cosmic tensions, pressures, and tractions) are
propagated through the molecules of the various elementary
substances and their compounds: it follows that all mechanical force is cosmical, and dealt out from cosmic fountains, as
the special requirements and inductive necessities of molecules, masses, elements, localities, machines, cells, plants, and
t animals may demand, anywhere and everywhere throughout
the interior or surface of this or other globes.
When electricity, embodying positive mechanical energy,
capable of effecting measurable material results, can glide
through solid matter with a velocity equal to 288,000 miles
in a second of time-a fact determined by Wheatstone-an
approximate idea may be formed of the subtle action of the
radical principles whose propagations are necessary not
only to produce this agent in the first place, but also to
create simultaneously its known functions of polarity and
duality. Here, again, we clearly distinguish the existence of
dual forces more profound, penetrative, potent, and creative
than electricity or magnetism, light or heat; and reach further
toward the veritable sources of dynamic energy, the fountains
whence are eternally supplied'the vires vivce of mechanical
and productive power.
35.
Chemical affinities and electrolyses of every class and
magnitude, therefore, resolve themselves into pure inductions




344                 FORCE AND NATUR.E
of attraction and repulsion from exterior sources, the interpenetration and propagation of which among and through
molecules, creating physical action and reaction, are clearly
demonstrable by their effects. The antithetic propagation of
these forces through the multifarious elements and their
compounds generates not only the correlative varieties of
secondary force denominated motion, heat, light, electricity,
and magnetism, but also  those still more subtle, intense,
specific, and differentiated forms or degrees of vibration and
undulatory motion, pregnant with instinct, and almost with
intelligence, denominated actinism, and measurable in the
Frauenhofer lines of the magnified solar spectrum; vibrations
the specific wave elements of which are for ever unalterable
and characteristic, since the rate, strength, and resistance of
the energies propagated are determined by the atomic structure-that is to say, the chemical constitution (the capacities
for saturation of atoricities)-of the body through which the
attractive and repulsive forces are incessantly transmitted.
Now, since the intimate structure of the different elementary bodies depends not only upon the degree of cohesion
among their molecules, but, as chemists and physicists prove
and declare, upon the geometrical shape of their ultimate
atoms also; since all geometrical forms and crystallographic
tendencies and laws establish clearly the innate presence and
necessity of definite and unalterable amounts of attraction
and repulsion in the molecules or atoms of the elementary
bodies; since the weights and densities of each are specific
and unchangeable; and since the combining properties and
energies of each and all are determined by numerical laws of
definite, multiple, and equivalent quantities and weights; it
irrefragably follows that specific sums of attraction and repulsion must have been measured to each of these elements in
the beginning, and must be continuously supplied and maintained in exactly the same relative proportions.  But the
universal distribution and juxtaposition or combination of
these elementary substances, so numerous and so diverse
in their physical properties, conditions, and affinities, must




MECHANIICAL FORCE.                  345
necessarily modify the intensities and impulses of the cosmical
currents of attraction and repulsion, which, in order to supply
these elements with their continuous actinic and specific
powers and functions, are incessantly propagated by convective
processes from the poles of the globe to its centre, and from
the centre throughout its circumference, and which under the
names of "centripetal" and "centrifugal" force are theoretically admitted by all physicists, at the same time that
astronomers and mathematicians alike ignore the living action
of the latter, and devote their efforts to substantiate the
existence of the former only; and that without the slightest
knowledge or understanding of its essence or mode of action,
or an endeavour to ascertain its relations to other forces, or to
the matter upon which it acts.  The entire field of experimental chemistry and physics, and the universal store of facts
observed by geologists and mineralogists, establish, however,
the important physical generalization which I have here
presented. And thus, avoiding and rejecting all hypotheses,
and building philosophy upon incontrovertible facts alone, we
discover abundant causes, introduced in the beginning, and for
ever existing in the economy of nature, for disturbances and
instability of equilibrium; causes which, commencing with
molecular and chemical phenomena, end in those grand
developments of energy that not only have generated and
perpetuated planetary rotation, but have also initiated, and
still maintain, those oscillating movements of celestial masses
around each other so clearly determined by the ellipticity of
their orbits, and the perturbating influences mutually exerted
upon each other according to known laws of inverse distance
and direct quantity. Thus it is seen how closely the permanent existence and specific difference of every element
and phenomenon  in physical nature  are inwoven with,
dependent upon, and inseparable from the molecular forces;
how  these molecular forces are inwoven with, dependent
upon, and inseparable from the cosmical forces of cognate
characters, with which the planet is loaded to repletion; and
how these latter forces (seemingly universal, incomprehen



3 4 6              FORCt   AND NATURE.
sible, chaotic abstractions, yet proven to be individual, living,
potential entities in virtue of their interplanetary influences)
may communicate vibratory impulses to the molecules composing cosmic bodies, and thereby resolve themselves into
sensible motion, heat, light, electricity, and magnetism; and,
furthermore, become differentiated, subdivided, appropriated,
and worked up by the specific capacities of the different
elements into those actinic transmutations which, originally
established by the Creator in order to initiate perpetual being
and activity, for ever oscillate with self-sustaining energy,
and act the part of a mighty pendulum within every globe,
and throughout the machinery of the heavens.
36.
It is in this connexion that the introduction of
other experimental data is demanded, in order to
extend the foundations and strengthen the arches whereupon
every class of physical and organic phenomena is successively
unfolded, and every element of positive and inductive philosophy may securely rest.  The facts alluded to are few and
simple; but being generic in character, so to speak, they will
exemplify principles, powers, and functions of nature which
are equally observable in their extended and cosmical as in
their limited and experimental conditions. They will eluci*date with singular clearness the origin of those obscure
phenomena of polarity and duality so manifest and striking
in all known expressions of force. They will finally establish
the separate and independent reign of the TWO principles
which I have hitherto discussed and held to be the co-ordinate and co-efficient sources, both radical and universal,
~of all mechanical and phenomenal energy; principles with-,out the compound and conflicting action of which in molecules and throughout planets there could exist no such
remarkable phenomena as those I now present.




MECHAN1ICAL FORCE.                   347
When a rod of glass is rubbed with dry silk, a force
possessing peculiar and well-known properties, denominated
vitreous or positive electricity, is generated.  This always
flows to the north.
When a rod of sealing-wax is rubbed with dry flannel,
another force, possessing equally peculiar and well-known
properties, denominated resinous or negative electricity, is also
generated.  This always flows to the south.
These two electricities originate from the same cause, FRICTION, simple disturbances of equilibrium in the relations of
molecules, in the forces which bind molecules together-that
is, in attraction and repulsion, the most profound and subtle
of known physical principles.  These two electricities, thus
identical in origin, are practically similar in capacity and
character: but they are opposite and mutually antagonistic in
all their functions and effects.  Denominated separately as
"currents " or " fluids " simply for the purpose of comprehending and defining their respective characters by their
adverse functions and effects, they are positively the exact
equivalents and co-efficients of each other as energetic principles, and can be insulated, accumulated, and differentiated
the one from  the other, and managed as if they were substantial and ponderable entities, while they really are not so.
These two electricities, however, combine and harmoniously
affiliate to  establish  an  equilibrium  between themselves,
somewhat as different gases diffuse their particles respectively among each other; and they would for ever exist in
this state in molecules and throughout matter, and, so far as
we can infer, be non-existent as secondary force, if all molecules and every other form of force were at rest, and no cause
of unrest existed in nature. In these facts the principle of
duality existing in what is termed electric force is distinctly
exposed; and the same principle of antithesis appears to pervade the entire physical universe.  But whence spring these
dualisms-these antithetic manifestations of similar elements
of energy? We shall comprehend this hereafter. It is known
that the glass may be rubbed indefinitely with the silk, and




348                FORCE AND NATURE.
the sealing-wax with the flannel, without the slightest loss of
substance in either of them; and still that the forces generated
and proceeding out of them are persistent and inexhaustible,
and capable of being measured, accumulated, and employed by
propagation as creative and productive mechanical power, as
long as friction continues. Observations in these respects
correspond with those attending the generation of heat. Our
platinum  experiments only need to be recalled in proof of
this. But Count Rumford established.these facts in 1798 in
a different way; and furthermore came to the conclusion,
through his famous experiments at M-unich, instituted in
order to measure the heat obtained by friction in boring
cannon, that "motion" constitutes heat by being transformed
into it in some manner which he did "' not pretend to know,"
or presume to conjecture. I need not again refer in'detail to
the important steps achieved of late, by which the correlation
and numerical equivalency of heat, electricity, magnetism, and
mechanical motion have been definitively established. These
are truths upon which all philosophical analysis may be as
firmly based as upon the laws of' gravitation: and proceeding
upon these foundations, we may safely conclude, when we reach
the origin and causation of one of these secondary forces and
their attendant phenomena, that uwe have grasped the root of all.
If MOTION be transformed into heat, as Rumford conjectured, and as physicists in general now teach, then, repulsion
and attraction must be the roots of heat; because there can
be no motion without the antecedent existence and action of
these two forces.  This we have heretofore established.  Faraday has proved that gravitation is not electricity nor magnetism; and that the two latter are not congeners of, or
convertible into, the former.  And yet that there is. some
hidden link connecting their respective phenomena he could
not doubt; and this is conjectured also by all who employ
themselves with the special study of these subjects, and
particularly with that relating to their cosmical characteristics
and periodical variations of intensity. The link, however,
has not hitherto. been detected.




MECHANICAL FOlRCE.                  349
37.
Having shown clearly the dcality of electrical force-the
glass and silk and the sealing-wax and flannel respectively
differentiating  and  insulating  the  binary and  antithetic
elements of this force; the silk and sealing-wax specializing,
separating, and temporarily holding the one called negative,
the glass and flannel the one called positive electricity-we
will now exhibit their union and antithetic action in other
substances, and so present this union and antithesis as to
elucidate the principle of polarity which is so striking and
conspicuous in molecular and experimental physics, and so
observable throughout the surface and crust of the globe as a
universally pervading and cosmical condition of matter.
When a rod of iron or hardened steel held in a north-south
direction, or in the line of the magnetic dip, is struck with a
hammer, a force is generated possessing peculiar and wellknown properties, denominated'magnetism.  Strange to say,
this force thus generated in the iron rod combines the identical,elements, distinctly affiliated, which were so clearly generated,
-differentiated, and insulated in the rods of glass and sealingwax.  These may moreover be separated and insulated also,
and so specialized and manipulated as to act in all respects
like the positive and negative electricities; thus proving not
only their correlation, but indeed their identity. Instead,
however, of displaying their antithetic properties with equal
definiteness and energy over all parts of the iron rod, these
opposite elements manifest a disposition to segregate, and to
separate their respective potencies as far as possible from each
other, in like manner as in the glass and sealing-wax experiments.  In fulfilling this law, their greatest intensities concentrate at opposite extremities of the rod; and these intensities diminish toward the centre of gravity, where they
become neutral and vanish.  One of these magnetic elements,
thus specializing itself, is called "positive," and flows from the
south to the north, as if it were water or a subtle fluid; the




350                FORCE AND NATURE.
other, called "negative" (names resulting from  ignorance of
their being the true elements in segmentation and creation),
flows from the north to the south. Thus behaving, these two
electricities establish what are called "poles;" and from this
phenomenon thus displayed-that is to say, the distinct concentration and manifestation of opposite elements of apparently the same force at opposite ends of a bar of iron or
steel-the idea and definition of polarity are derived and
determined.  If the iron bar be continually hammered, the
magnetic force will be as persistently generated and poured
out from it, ever acting as positive mechanical power, capable
of moving machinery and effecting productive and creative
work; and still neither bar nor hammer will lose a particle of
their substance nor an iota of their weight.  Thus we see
that heat, electricity, and magnetism are generated in similar
ways, viz. by friction and impact-molecular agitation alone;
and that not a molecule is added to, or abstracted from, the
masses which develop them.  It matters not how large the
masses are. The results are in proportion to their magnitude
and their intermolecular action and reaction. Now, friction
and impact of every sort and amplitude, examined from both
physical and metaphysical points of study, are simply the
compression of molecules into smaller spaces, and their reaction-a species of compulsory attraction between molecules,
so to speak (as may be observed in comets approaching the
sun, for instance), and the excitement thereby of proportional
repulsion.  Impact plainly communicates the force existing
in a falling body to the body struck. This force is evidently
the gravitative attraction of the falling body, which, propagating itself from molecule to molecule, is counteracted in turn
by the repulsive forces of the same molecules.  Thus the
vibrations-that is to say, molecular motions-ensue which
are, from the first, equivalents of heat and magnetism; and
thus the transfusion of force into matter, traceable directly to
the crude radical elements of molecular attraction and molecular repulsion transforming themselves into vibrations, the
basis of all physical phenomena, mechanical motion, and pro



MECH'AN1.CL FORCE.                 351
ductive creation, becomes manifest and demonstrable. Every
form  of analysis and treatment of this subject, however its
elements may be handled, ends in the same result, viz. that the
conflicting propagations of the crude antithetic forces of molecules-absolute metaphysical and incomprehensible essences
of themselves-create motion.  The correlated subjects of
motion, heat, &c. have been ably and more or less thoroughly
unfolded, in every mechanical and mathematical direction, so
far as their laws apply to the useful arts and social economy.
The fundamental origin of these forces, and the explanation of
their connected action and interaction, are what we seek, in
order to enlarge the ranges of human knowledge, and to
perfect the theories and improve the applications of mechanical energy-the grand point upon which modern art and
practical inventions are founded, and through which civilization is developed and refined.
38.
Friction and    Friction, however applied, immediately produces
Impactuniver- disturbances of molecular equilibrium analogous
sally similar in
their Physical to those generated by impact, though more limited
Effects.    and superficial. Indeed, the forces communicated
by the former excite vibrations the sensible and phenomenal
developments of which are not only similar, positive, and productive, but also the equivalents, in every degree, of those
generated by the latter. The repetition of facts so simple and
well known as these, in their correlative and numerical results,
might appear too elementary for a work so general as ours;
but it is necessary to possess precise knowledge of the origin,
causes, and fundamental mechanism  of motion, heat, and
electricity, as they are observed within limited and experimental ranges, and to have, moreover, clear comprehensions
of the metaphysical subtlety of the forces by the antithetic
propagations of which through molecules vibrations, heat,




352               FORCE AND N.TURE.
magnetism, electricity, and light are generated, so as to be the
better enabled to reach safely into wider fields, and to occupy
such a position as to determine with mathematical certainty
the operation and mechanism of the same forces and causes,
when  we discuss cognate phenomena in their cosmical
aspects. These facts, simple and insignificant as they appear,
are the foundations and exponents of principles and laws, the
action of which is universal, and the application of which to
kindred conditions in the globe or most distant stars will
unravel mysteries which have been heretofore studied from
hypothetical points of view, and considered impenetrable.
Having traced heat, electricity, and magnetism backwards
and downwards through the "MOTION " of Rumford into the
nolecular forces of attraction and repulsion-principles recognised alike by ancient and  modern  philosophers-which
forces, propagating themselves oppositely to one another, infuse
the power of vibration into matter; we discover plainly how
motion was first generated, and how it has been perpetuated.
The augmentation of the slightest vibrations into the grandest
developments of motion by successive increments of force and
undulatory impulses is a subject not only clearly determined
by experiment within measurable ranges, but already reduced
by many physicists, in one way or another, to exact mathematical law. The same laws, modified by circumstances and
conditions, apply to every form of matter and motion, and
may be indefinitely extended so as to comprehend the phenomena involved in the mechanics of the heavens.
Now it would be superfluous to array here the endless data
recorded at the meteorological, magnetic, and electrical observatories which have been established in various parts of the
globe, in order to ascertain the action of, and the laws governing, terrestrial forces; or even to discuss the cosmnical value of
their periodic and numerical variability. It is sufficient to
state that all classes of facts long ago convinced physicists
that the magnetic and electric forces observed everywhere
upon, above, and below the earth's surface are cosmical, appertaining to the entire planet, and constantly influenced in their




MIECHANJCAL FORCE.                   3 53
fluctuating intensities by the variable angular distances of
the sun and moon.  Not only, indeed, is this great truth
established, but equally determined is the fact, that the forces
which generate all electrical and magnetic phenomena in experimental physics are in some way connected with terrestrial
forces of cognate characters, and absolutely induced therefro),.
Of late, to be sure, some philosophers have imagined that
motion alone-the mere mechanical act of rotation in electrical machines, for instance-is sufficient force of itself, and
is converted into electricity independent of induction from
without, and wholly disconnected from cosmical sources and
alliances. This hypothesis cannot be long maintained in view
of advancing acquirements.  For when it is considered that
the inoculating touch of an electrophorus is requisite to
initiate electric development after rotation has begun; and
that the speculative dogma of Empedocles, that affinities
invariably seek their affinities, is, after all, when applied to
forces, an absolute law  (as proved antecedently in our discussions upon the nature and behaviour of gravitation); we
are compelled to look deeper into the mysteries and mechanism of motion, and to consider always that while no electricity can be generated independently of molecular motion,
so no molecular motion can exist or be generated independently of pre-existent antithetic currents of repulsion and
attraction-distinct, abstract, metaphysical, living forcescorrelated by their antagonisms-absolute centrifugal and
centripetal essences.  All vibratory molecular motion implies
the necessity of pre-existent cosmical forces, acting as antagonistic principles; and these forces so unequally distributed
through the chemical elements, and through the planetary
and stellar masses, as never to be in equilibrium, but constantly in search, so to speak, of this state. Thus it will be
seen why the forces of which we speak are constantly in process
of translation from point to point, and from the centre to the
surface of planets and comets, and vice versd; and why these
influences are mutually and delicately responsive from the
centre to the  boundaries of planetary systems, and  vice
A A




354                 FORCE  ND1) NATURE.
versa.  Amplify this induction as widely as matter is distributed in space, and it will be found to apply with equal
strength in support of the truths already reached by experimental study, and to prove, by the universal energy of gravitation, the absolute and necessary existence of the universal
energy of repulsion also.  Why electricity and magnetism
are, also, forces of universal distribution, and correlated
everywhere with  gravitation through repulsion, and why
they therefore exert mutual interplanetary influences, will be
discovered further on.  The labours of the immortal Gauss
alone almost established this point, while all subsequent observation and discussion have confirmed its truth. Indeed, the
incontestible evidence afforded by the magnetic needle alone
shows that the very polarities of electric and magnetic force
are absolutely cosmical principles affecting individual atoms
as well as the entire planet; and doing this in consequence of
atoms being a part of the planet, and subject to the universal
influences of attraction and repulsion, which, acting from the
centre to the circumference of the planet as radical motive
forces, generate the thermo-electric and electro-magnetic forces
upon cosmical scales by the incessant friction and motionactual molecular pulsating action-existing between all molecules entering into the constitution of the planet, from its
centre to its circumference. The objections which will immediately arise in the minds of physicists to this general statement are, that the interior of the globe is incandescent, and
that magnetic force diminishes in intensity and vanishes in
direct proportion to augmentations of thermal intensity. But
these objections are met by our present exact knowledge that
the same causes which generate heat, generate electricity and
magnetism also; that the three forms of force are equivalent
and convertible one into the other; and that if heat appears
in the centre, magnetism in the cooling and crystallizing crust,
and electricity in the surface and among the gases, they are
only three different states of molecular pulsating action-only
differences of mode and of intensity in the propagations of
force among molecules, the mutual relations and affinities of




MECHiAVIGAL FORCE.                  355
which are various, and upon which the radical cosmic forces
of repulsion and attraction act and react within the limits
of definite necessities and laws.  Whence these fluctuating
intensities spring, and why they are periodical, will be hereafter understood when we discuss these conditions in relation
to the ellipticity of the planetary orbits, and the eccentric
position of the sun in these orbits, thereby tracing mechanical force directly to its fountain-head.  All forms, properties, conditions, and periodic manifestations of these
secondary forces depend upon these ellipses, and upon the
mutual gravitation and repulsion  (considered as internal
reactionary forces) of the planetary masses; and if electricity,
magnetism, and heat spring from molecular pulsations, and
in turn be convertible into mechanical motion and effective
working creative energy, in the ways determined by experimental physics, and observable in organic morphology, they
must necessarily depend also, in all degrees and modifications,
upon the varying distances of the earth from the sun-not
upon the light and heat radiated from the solar orb, but upon
the length of the radius vector; in other words, upon gravitation, considered as a concentral force, and acting as such
upon every individual molecule in the planet, and upon
repulsion, its eternally reacting cosmic associate, co-ordinate,
and co-efficient, traced also into equally molecular infinitesimal distributions fiom the centre to the boundary of the
planet.
39.
The binary nature, the dual characteristics, of electricity and
magnetism-or, as they are at present denominated, positive
and negative elements-are equally and definitely traceable to
cosmic origin.  The capacities existing in these antagonistic
entities for mutual segregation and isolation, and their absolutely separate and  individual inductibility and veritable
A A




356                 FORCE AND  NA'URLE
inductions from planetary sources and congeners, in various
physical experiments, and under all circumstances, and in all
magnetic observations, are beyond question. These important truths are demonstrable in a thousand ways: since
the positive element accumulating, and absolutely insulating
itself, in one end of a steel bar, and identical with the force
that may be differentiated and insulated by vitreous bodies,
invariably propagates itself, and directs the steel bar, when
delicately suspended and free to move, toward northern points
of the planet; while the negative element, accumulating in
the other end, and identical with the force generated and
insulated by resinous bodies, propagates itself, and directs the
steel bar toward southern points of the planet.  These two
antithetic expressions of force are so definite and fixed;
the innate differentiating spirit and energy by which these
binary and co-ordinate elements separate themselves, like oil
and water, from each other, in so intuitive and intelligent a
manner, are so replete with design, conveying to the mind a
sense and consciousness of imperious necessity and commanding will, implanted in the very springs of their being and
origin; and these entities and dualities are so positive in
their action, inflexible in their character, and universal in
their dominion; that needles subject to their influences are for
ever restless when in the slightest degree deflected from the
lines of their terrestrial currents.
Duality and polarity are, therefore, one and the same
entity and power. They originate and define the principles
of segregation and segmentation, so important in creation,
so visible and wonderful in organic developments-principles
first traceable in force, absolutely cognisable by their physical
action and reaction in a crude and chaotic way among molecules, and known by the old forcible words attraction and
repulsion; principles first seen to assume directive agencies
and organic functions in electricity and magnetism after the
above-named forces have been propagated, mingled, and
agitated, so to speak, among molecules, thereby engendering
new and compound forms of energy, and when they attempt




MIECHAN[CJL FORCE.                  3 5 7
to separate themselves again, in order if possible to regain a
primordial state of isolation and mutual repose. However
profoundly we are permitted to penetrate into this department
of nature, we are more and more overwhelmed with the discovery that these forces are not only infinitely subtle, but
absolutely metaphysical; that they are the nerve powers of a
mighty mysterious agent; the ventricle and auricle, so to
speak, of an infinite heart, without which no energy could
circulate, no molecules pulsate, no masses roll and oscillate.
40.
Gavanism and   Now, if at this point we permit ourselves to
its capacities. pass for a moment to the consideration of the
forces generated by galvanic processes, embracing, as they
do, the development of every form and shade of secondary
force; running from the simplest electric excitement through
the ranges and affiliations of electric, magnetic, thermic,
and actinic phenomena; gathering these multiform expressions and results of molecular action and reaction into a
single analysis, and applying the truth elicited therefrom
to the same end; we shall be equally interested to find how
delicately and precisely the experimental facts of chemistry
and physics harmonize with mineralogical, astronomical,
and mathematical data, and how all converge in and substantiate a final generalization, the principles of which are
founded upon nature  and primal law, in opposition to
hypothetical assumptions and  the hazardous  conjectures
of philosophers, whose speculations are based upon and
limited to a single abstract idea.  It is not my design,
however, to trace the electrical elements through all their
wonderful avenues of mechanical action, development, and
law.   The variety and modifications of their mechanical
functions depend upon the number, quantity, and capacities
of the chemical substances, the assemblage, association, and




353                FORCE AND NA TURE.
mutations of which complete the constitution and determine the sum and power of the central forces of the globe.
My object is rather to fortify, by  experimental proofs,
the certain correlation of electricity with molecular repulsion and attraction; moreover, to identify magnetism absolutely with electricity, and to establish not only the numerical
and mechanical equivalency, but also the identity in fact,
derivation, and interior mechanism, of every form and expression of secondary force. But, above all, my aim is to simplify
philosophical study by demonstrating  how, in virtue of
the dilatation of molecular forces into cosmical amplitudes,
the actinic, thermic, electric, and magnetic forms of force
expand also into cosmical conditions, transform their respective mechanical functions and antithetic characteristics into
each other, and assume and exert reciprocal influences of an
interplanetary character. By patient and persistent labour
we shall at last reach the veil of the temple where aforetime
was kindled the celestial fire, whose unquenchable sparks
excite and sustain the motion and life of the world.  Let us
not fear for the character of our final attainments; but,
recognising everywhere the same intelligent and omnipotent
Creative Will, take courage from the past, and hesitate at no
problem  with which experiment, exact observation, and the
mathematics can equally and unitedly grapple.
When the forms of force generated by galvanic experiments
are carefully studied, they are found not only to possess
similar dual, polar, and antithetic elements with a north and
south, right and left, upper and lower, directive action and reaction-the very same segregative and mutually attractive and
repulsive principles inherent and observable in the vitreous
and resinous electricities, and in the magnetic forces-but also
to exercise the most intimate and unlimited influences upon
actinic compositions and decompositions, upon the subtlest
molecular arrangements of geometrical being, assuming functional correlations even with germinal sensibility, the primal
quickening of segmentive cell-life and embryonic motion; in




MECH.4NIC2  L FORCE.                 359
a word, over the entire range of physiological conditions embraced in organic morphology, and upon which depend vegetable  and animal generation, form, development, motion,
existence, and continuance. They are found, moreover, not
only to possess capacities for conversion into every variety and
shade of thermic, electric, magnetic, actinic, and vital power,
but also to be drawn or induced swiftly, instantly, and absolutely from the earth itself, to be really a part of the abstract
potential energy appropriated to the globe as a cosmic mass
attached to the sun; so that, indeed, the slightest galvanic
action, the merest touch of a galvanic apparatus, however
minute or vast its structure, is but an electrophoric inoculation
giving instantaneous birth to influent and effluent currents
which are continuous and inexhaustible while the slightest
molecular motion exists.  And, as in all organic, magnetic,
electric, and thermic phenomena, not an atom  of matter is
consumed or lost, only translated in its relations to other
atoms, during the swift and subtle influxes and effluxes of
these antithetic elements of galvanic energy. In all these
secondary forms and varieties of force are displayed the same
definite principles of attraction and repulsion which exist in
the ultimate molecules of crude matter, which impart to
them their simple, fundamental, chaotic capacities of mutual
action and reaction, and which follow  them  into masses,
coalescing into centralizing volumes of energy, as formerly,described; thus establishing the means of spherical agglomeration and cohesion, of cosmical motion, and of mechanical
action and reaction throughout space. The convertibility of
all the secondary forces into each other, the equivalency of
their mechanical effects, the circumstances of their direct
derivation from  and resolution into motion-together with
the profounder fact that the hitherto occult mechanism  of
motion itself is substantially the antithetic pulsative propagation of attraction and repulsion (considered in the light of
compound volumes of cosmic energy) through the various
chemical elements, generating at first molecular vibrations, the
infinitesimal action and reaction of which gradually expand into




360                 FORCE fiSAD NAXIURE
sensible motion and measurable mechanical power;-all these
demonstrable connexions and sequences of facts and phenomena experimentally, legitimately, and logically explain why
the same laws of duality, polarity, equal and opposite action
and reaction, variations of intensity with inverse distances,
&c., so universally applicable to the phenomena of gravitation, especially to those of rational mechanics and molecular physics, and so well determined by the calculus, prevail
through the entire series; and why all spring from and return
into the same fountains of primal, subtle, and indestructible
power,
Details of the pregnant capacities and varied action of
galvanic force, its transformations into chemical affinity,
thermo-electricity, &c., and vice versd, may be obtained by
reference to the observations, experiments, and discussions of
innumerable labourers in these departments of physical science.
Our special object is to condense and generalize all these
labours, in order to deduce therefrom  final results, and be
enabled thereby to grasp the occult laws which  govern
potential energy as abtract dynamical and phenomenal power
in its distributions' to, and in connexion with, cosmical and
organic nature.  Comprehending the existence of the radical
forces of attraction and repulsion, as infinite volumes of
binary power in nature, at first undivided; then, secondly,
segregative and subdivided in definite but unequal quantities'between cosmical masses, and acting like abstract metaphysical agents, with affinities for molecules, and with the
subtlest capacities for penetrating and gliding through matter;
then, in consequence of these penetrative capacities and diffusive  energies, that molecular vibrations and pulsating
motions ensue-metaphysical principles thus passing into
inseparable connexions with matter, and assuming functions
of an absolutely physical character: comprehending these
fundamental truths, we the more readily understand how and
why the secondary forces are endowed with binary and polar
functions; how and why they become segregative, and absolutely repulsive and attractive; how and why the mecha



3MECHJNICAL I'ORCE                   361
nical element in each is and must be equivalent to that
of the other, no more and no less; why and how they are
correlated with, and convertible into, each other: and we may
now  clearly understand why, without the intercurrence of
repulsion as a cosmical element, there can be no theoretical or
mathematical recognition of the correlation of these secondary
forces with gravitation; and why, through the existence and
action of repulsion as a cosmical force and quantity, magnetism, electricity, and heat may amplify themselves into
cosmical proportions with infinite capacities and with interplanetary and interstellar functions; and, finally, why both
the primary and secondary forces of the universe are not only
inextinguishable, but also capable of incessant mutation and
eternal conservation.
41.
Dynamical Laws  Conversant with the general laws of mechanics,
analogous in  and recognising the application of these laws to
their action
under various matter even under its molecular aspects, we may
cirumstances. now intelligibly extend and apply the theory of
the sagacious Ampere in such a manner as to embrace all
known electrical phenomena, and even explain the mechanism
of those wondrous electro-magnetic repulsions and attractions
(first observed a half-century since by CErsted), the practical
development of which has ended in remarkable inventions
and the most useful results to modern society..,
When balls of crude plastic matter-dough, putty, mud,
and the like, for instance-are projected against each other
in mid air, or against any solid obstacle (that is to say, if
they encounter any resistance whatever), they instantly lose
sphericity, and flatten out eguatorially. So, when the same
bodies fall upon the earth, they flatten or fly asunder laterally
in special proportions to  the  velocity acquired and  the
repulsive forces encountering each other. The energy which




362                  FORCE AND NA4TURE.
produces these lateral or equatorial movements of molecules'was held, in the first case, at the first moment, or acquired,
in the second case, at the last; and this energy of motion
(Thomson's energy of position) virtually acts in the mass as
so much central force, never latent and inactive, but always
active  in  some  effluent or influent way, until the ball
strikes, when, encountering antithetic energy, the radial
movement takes place from the centre, to which movement
the force of every molecule either directly  or indirectly
contributes. This is a concise description of the instantaneous absorption and propagation of the simple molecular,forces-distinct metaphysical and  dynamical entities-as
they are held or received from without (somewhat as platinum
absorbs and conducts the positive electrical element, and
steel both  the positive  and  negative), and subsequently
decomposed or transformed  within  the ball into distinct
centrifugal and mechanical power.  Now, it is not matter of
itself alone which moves other matter, whether it be isolated
molecules or molecules in mass.  It is the antithesis, the
conflict, of forces under tension and traction in matter, the
action and reaction of attraction and repulsion propagated
through the molecules of plastic bodies, which so acts within
their boundaries as to change their shapes. Moreover, it is
not the simple blow-the mere act of striking-of one body
against another, considered in gross and producing a crude
material effect; but the phenomenon is one where the entire
force or motion  (motion  being composite force), held, communicated, or acquired, is instantly dissolved and divided
up into molecular infinitesimals, and diffused concentrically
through the entire mass, creating absolute tension with even a
radiant atmosphere of force, so to speak, all around the body.
This fact is plainly proven by cannon-balls in motion, which
give out, at each successive instant, the repulsive force that
was communicated to them, and with which they were over-,charged, by exploding gunpowder. Not only do they gradually
fall toward the earth, thus demonstrating this radial loss of
acquired force on the whole; but the action of their "wind"




M7ECHANICJL FORCE.                  363
in destroying animal life proves also the wonderful phenomenon of pulsating influxes and effluxes of force during
projection. For men in battle who have been impressed by
"wind-balls" and not irrecoverably injured, or who have
lived long enough to describe their sensations at the instant
the passing missile affected them, feel as if their whole frame
was about to burst with a sudden fulness, accompanied by
intense pricking throughout the surface from head to feet.
These effects are frequently followed with partial or entire
paralysis of one or both sides, or with such a sudden or
gradual prostration of organic power that collapse and death
become inevitable.  Death from wind-balls is often instantaneous, as if by thunderbolts; and in neither instance has
matter touched, or left the slightest lesion upon, the body.
The sudden influx or efflux of force alone executes the terrible
work.  And this force we now  know  is pure, abstract,
mechanical energy-dual or single-whatever may be its
ultimate nature.  But among the most remarkable facts connected with this phenomenon we observe the following. The
part of the body nearest to the passing ball is acted upon in
such a manner that the subjects for an instant feel themselves
struck, or pulled, in the interior of the body, equatorially to the
line of projection; and unconscious of the flying missile, they
sometimes suppose themselves assaulted or insulted by some
one, and turn to resent the injury or inquire the reason for
it.  Such events often occurred during the late civil conflict
in the United States. For many interesting facts upon this
subject I am  indebted to Major Hall of Jamestown, New
York, a scholar and careful observer, actively occupied in the
loyal cause during the rebellion.  Among others, he reports
the case of a coloured soldier in his regiment, who, while lying
on the ground, had simply the heel of his shoe struck in such
a way as to knock the shoe from  his foot, exciting only
sudden surprise, giving no pain, and leaving not the slightest bruise.  The man, however, quickly perceived himself
paralysed upon the same side; and notwithstanding he conversed and laughed about the accident, supposing himself all




364                FORCE AL ND NATURE.
the while not seriously injured, he was so profoundly affected
by this subtle and sudden disturbance of his vital forces-that
is to say, by the instantaneous propagation of dynamic energy
out of his body into the passing ball, or, vice versa, into his
body from the ball, either exhausting or overcharging the
nervous and conducting tissues-that he soon began to sink,
and in a few hours died.
By such facts and observations we learn that the forces
acquired by projectiles, whether they be balls of solid or
plastic matter, and however set in motion, even if by the
human arm, as when we whirl a sling or throw  a stone, are
so much positive energy, living miechanicctl power, infused
into them  from  centre to circumference-veritable imponderable entities, capable of instantaneous absorption, propagation, and radiation from  molecule to molecule, charging
the ball to repletion, saturating it even to disruption in some
cases; forces and antagonistic principles which, when traced
sufficiently far, will be found also, like magnetism  and
electricity, to spring from and return into the very bowels of
the planet, as a part of its conservable and convertible stores
of attraction and repulsion, crude, mysterious, intangible
agencies, but the demonstrable bases of all motion, the radical
causes of all phenomena.
Considered in this light, we discover that bodies in motion,
whatever their magnitude, from the celestial masses to the
smallest projectiles, move and have their motions governed
and measured not only by the impulses impressed simply upon
their external surfaces, but also by the quantity of force
virtually received into their interior substance as so much
central force. Experiments, moreover, show that differences
in chemical composition, and in the mechanical form of bodies,
also influence and modify their receptive and radiating capacities, impulse and other circumstances being the same.




MEC'llINlICAL FORCE.                  365
42.
Thus (to follow out my illustration and reach its application), when the plastic masses spoken of, moving in opposite
directions, strike each other, the molecular forces respectively
existing in each coalesce, and reactionary currents instantly
assume mechanical functions, translating molecules into equatorial positions.  It is matter and force, both under active
phenomenal conditions-not matter at rest and force inert,
but both matter and force in motion and in antithetic conflict
with other matter and other force-which here establish a
reflex system of currents, the energies of which combine and
generate entirely new ones, whose mechanical functions act at
right angles to, and radiantly from, the primitive lines of impulse.  In this theorem lies the secret essence of unifornmity
so observable in the laws of incidence, reflection, refraction,
polarization, &c.;-laws which  apply  equally to  phenomena developed by  all the secondary forces; and which,
modified by circumstances, penetrate and govern the entire
range of rational mechanics.  Extending even beyond physical conditions, this mechanical principle, for ever supreme
throughout nature, and linked with the very centre of the
earth and solar system, follows molecules everywhere, and
penetrates even the final germ  of organic life and development,  suggesting  and  absolutely  demonstrating  to  the
physiologist and pathologist the origin of those wonderful
intersections of vegetable and animal fibre which not only
generate  crucial types and forms  of structure, but also'
establish those decussations of cerebral and spinal tissue upon
which homologies and homotypes, and all bilateral symmetry
and perfection of vertebrate beings, depend.  In proof of this
we possess facts derived not only from general anatomical
developments, and occasional inversions of internal organs
kindred to the inverse action of crystallizing forces, but also
from those constant reverse results of cerebral lesion which
paralyse both muscular motion and the sources of molecular




366                FORCE AND NA1TURE.
power by which cell-life and nutritive action and growth are
sustained.
To confine ourselves, however, closely to the physical
points: we observe in proportion to the resistance of the
materials under experiment, or, rather, as their chemical
and cohesive constitutions differ, that the mechanical effects
generated by them vary; and that our senses are excited in
different ways and  degrees by  the  decompositions  and.
transformations  of  the  mechanical impulses propagated
through them. Thus under different chemical conditions (and
here, again, we see why chemical nomenclature should be
based upon mathematical quantities of "force," and not on
shapes, or numbers, or volumes of atoms or molecules) the,
same ultimate forces of molecules-simple attraction and
repulsion-as  propagative  and  reactionary  elements of
energy, resolve themselves into different states or modes of
motion and action, and assume distinct polarities and different
component functions replete with absolute and convertible
dynamic power.  By this reasoning upon, and treatment of,
known facts and laws, we reach that point where final forces,
molecular and cosmical energetics, transform  themselves
into, and contribute to the birth of, the electrical, magnetic,
and thermic conditions of matter; conditions which, as all
experiments show, never appear independently of vibrating
molecular motion: and this species of motion is impossible
without the antecedent penetration and mutual action and
reaction of those opposing forces whose primal functions are
exerted to bend every molecule to the centre of cosmical
bodies in order to determine spherical form, while they simultaneously initiate centrifugal evolutions, perpetuate internal
convective and eruptive processes, and establish external relations with other bodies of a universal and reciprocal character.
In this manner it is that the laws of molecular physics, which
impress uniformity of action and similarity of development
and of mathematical quantity upon all local phenomena,
expand into general ones; and that magnetism, electricity,
galvanism, actinism, and heat become universal conditions, and




MECHEtNICAL FORCE.                 367
depend for their planetary magnitudes upon the inalienable
capacities of molecules to absorb, assimilate, reject, and
propagate the volumes of antagonistic energy in which they
are enveloped, with which they are saturated, and from which
they can never escape; volumes which, as individual cosmic
aggregates, exist in chaotic or unconverted states, so to speak,
until the chemical elements (all of which, and all the compounds of which, require different combining proportions of
these agents) change their relations and juxtapositions to
each other. Approximated and alienated, whirled, pushed,
and pulled, incessantly active, never static, never inert,
vibrating between attraction and repulsion, molecules become
not only the solid bases of all existing things, but also the
agents, both in their individual and massive conditions,.
through which these forces convert themselves into absolute
mechanical powers and into sensible phenomena with identical numerical values.  And inasmuch as these three terms
in the problem of nature are both fundamental and universal,
and mutually influential upon each other by simplest mathematical laws of quantity, it follows that the phenomena
unfolded by them, although various, must be similar in all
infinitesimal or infinite conditions and degrees; and that all
the secondary forces springing from them  must partake of
their elements, be governed by their laws, and be convertible
into each other, and so back again into the occult principles
whence they originate.  These inductions are final, since
molecules never lose their individualities nor the chemical
elements their identities, and since we now know so much
of the action, effects, and laws of force as to be certain that
there are only fixed quantities of radical motive principles in
any planet, any system, or in the cosmos; that these quantities
are conservable in each body and each system  as specific
sums of working energy exclusively appropriated to them at
their origin, in some way not yet ascertained; that no more
are necessary to execute the mechanical designs of nature
than what exist; and that, having sprung in the beginning
from supernatural and metaphysical omnipotency, they were




368               FOR CE -AND NATURE.
issued, propagated, developed, and expanded in such intelligent ways as to generate motion and segregation, and to
be for ever conservable by the very processes which they
originally instituted.
43.
Under the preceding treatment we discover how  the
simplest forces in nature yet known (not electricity and
magnetism, but the radical molecular and cosmical forces, as
abstract elements of energy combining with molecules as
bases for the  expression  of sensible  motion  and  other
phenomena) assume projectile functions and dynamic power;
how, in thus demonstrating themselves as living entities, they
initiate compact rotund volumes and measurable currents of
force, establishing simultaneously tendencies to mo-ve and
straight lines of motion, in consequence of inherent capacities
for union with each other; and how the sudden union of
different sums of matter and force (the commingling and
reaction of various or unlike increments with each other
generating vibration, a sort of friction among molecules in
mass, resulting from impact and contact) decomposes these
right lines and antithetic currents, resolves them into reflex
and radial ones, and initiates the fundamental principles and
laws of motion. All this is illustrated clearly in experiments
upon plastic matter, while the endless variety of decomposing
forces taught in theoretical mechanics and observable in the
action and reaction of elastic bodies collaterally supports
our inductions.  Indeed, this finality rises completely above
metaphysical abstraction, and  becomes simple and clear
physical truth when we consider that nature does really
abhor vacuum, that matter and force rush and cling and
oscillate together as the opposite of vacuum, that something
and nothing are definite antagonistic conditions, that entity
and nonentity are the mutual repellants and ultimate correlates




~IECHJNICAL FORCE.                  369
of one another.  Thus we arrive at the root and causation
of all mechanical law.  The simple example of two plastic
bodies rushing together under any conditions whatever represents in gross dual antithetic principles, two counteracting
currents and volumes of projectile force, propagating themselves through space, encountering each other, and resolving
themselves into equatorial currents of mechanical motion
and conservable power —material effects of the irresistible
tensions of subtle agencies which embody the principles,
the energies, and the laws at the base of every dynamical
phenomenon within the range of scientific observation and
research.
44.
Further on we shall extend the principles heretofore elaborated into their broadest applications to cosmical phenomena and general causations.  But it is important to our
purpose at this juncture to point out the following factsviz. that positive and negative electric and magnetic forms
of force are wholly telluric, and that, however generated
experimentally, they are but fragmentary portions of their
cosmical congeners, in virtue of the circumstance that the
molecules and molecular forces which generate them  are
themselves but fragments of planetary entities. And in this
connexion we must allude for a moment, also, to certain phenomena upon which the discussions of Ampere are founded,
in order to conjoin, as intimately as is consistent with brevity,
the most pregnant facts of molecular physics with the final
drift of our generalizations. While far from adopting the
theory of Ampere, or any other theory, it is quite certain that
the mathematical conclusions of that illustrious physicist are
not devoid of foundation.  But the point to be reached in
every scientific path is exact and final truth, and the expression
of this truth in terms so clear and definite, that all who run
B B




370                FORCE AND NATURE.
may read, and that no fact in nature shall remain without
legitimate and graphical explanation.
We declare, then, that the earth, as a planetary ball, is
charged with heat, magnetism, and electricity, in one form or
another, from centre to circumference; considering it already
proved by every class and connexion of experimental and
observational research. Latest observations and experiments
in submarine and airial telegraphy settle the point of the
direct, local, general, and perpetually fluctuating play of both
telluric and marine electro-magnetic currents, as positively as
the eye determines the fluctuating action of the polar needle
and the polar auroras in magnetic storms. Accepting these
truths, we feel equally certain that their causation and
mechanism may be satisfactorily explained; that the important astronomical and geological data which we shall soon
bring to bear upon this subject will afford solid elements for
its exact mathematical development, and for the determination of universal laws; and that, once elevated from the
realms of hypothesis, the dynamical problems of nature will
no longer resist complete solutions.
The mechanism of friction and impact, as we have already
intimated, consists in the contact and intermixture, in the
mutual action and reaction, of different volumes of force and
molecules-in other words, in the decompositions and recompositions of the forces of those molecules which, under any
circumstances or in any way, become alternately alienated
and juxtaposed. No force is absolutely consumed; no matter
is changed in its final chemical elements by friction or impact.
Particles only change local vibratory relations with each other;
and herein attraction and repulsion, considered as distinct entities with substantive connexions, undergo such modifications,
during their subtle translations and conflicts with elementary
substances, that, while all radically remain the same simple
terms with unchanging quantities, their functions are altered
in consequence of the chemical bases and plastic essences of
the latter, whose inherent sensitiveness and instinctive consciousness, so to speak, to the presence and accumulations of




.MECHANICAL FORCE.                  371
the former are various. It is at this point that the specialized
and subtly specializing characteristics of molecules begin to be
distinguished, the elective affinities of which, discovered by
chemists and physiologists, inspire us with the idea that
matter is really replete with mind as well as with motive
force.  This is indeed the point whence the discussions of
the pagan philosophers unfolded the doctrine revived by
Leibnitz, relative to the " monad" and the " elemental mind"
of atoms. This elective, geometric, and morphological essence
in matter, so palpably a directive spirit, and so absolutely
intellectual, potent, and universal, is that principle which, in
the present state of knowledge, I hold to lie at the foundation
of the existing state of things, to be the true pantheistic
expression of omniscience and omnipotence, and to be that
condition of nature where physics and metaphysics, the
substance and the psycho-logos, affiliate and become inseparably knit together, and ever unitedly active to effect definite
and intelligent ends. The physical forces, themselves immaterial and without substance, combine with the substantial
and various elements of nature; and in the manner above
described the conversion is effected of one or the other, or
of both, of these radical forces into heat, electricity, &c.
during their conflicting penetration, and mutual interferences
with each other, among molecules and in the midst of the
masses through which they glide and circulate, when mixed
and excited into reaction by impact and friction.  Consequently, impact and friction, when analysed and resolved into
their molecular potencies, are found to be only forms or
modifications of motion, which, as equivalents of heat and
electricity, spring in like manner from, and return equally
into, the same fundamental principles of molecular attraction
and repulsion. These factors, amplified to any extent, generate proportional sums of all other equivalent and qualified
expressions of dynamic energy. The specific gravity of the
various forms of matter and of worlds as individual masses'is, therefore, unalterable; since heat and cold, positive and
negative electricities, &c., are immaterial, and only subtle and
BB2




372               PFORCE AND NAPU1E.
metaphysically abstract affections of the vibratory characteristics of molecules. However all these forms of force may
change and replace each other, their final functions-the
decompositions and oscillations of which in masses result in
cohesion, radiation, expansion, rotation, &c.-remain the same,
and, being unsubstantial and imponderable, add nothing to,
and'subtract nothing from, the elementary nature of molecules
or globes.  And inasmuch as only specific sums of energy
have been affixed to any celestial body (to the earth, for
instance, as is proved by its being a mass of chemical elements which combine their individual specific weights and
forces), these sums must for ever remain the same; and,
notwithstanding we know that bodies moving through space
are subject to more or less active and constant mutual perturbations, we must now be convinced that these excitations
are wholly individual and internal, concentral and reactionary, and that the absolute quantities of dynamic and
working energy in each and all are eternally unchangeable.
The conclusions of Laplace and Adams, based upon the
records of the ancient Greek astronomers and modern observations, heretofore alluded to, may again be adduced to confirm this induction, and cement all our positions more strongly
together.  This great fact becomes perfectly clear at this
point, as a corollary of all that precedes; for since heat and
electricity are not matter, but only polar affections of molecules-antithetic forces, worked up and modified by different
chemical forms of matter, for ever attached to and inseparable from matter, as active phenomenal entities-it follows,
under every aspect of our discussions, that heat, light, magnetism, and electricity must be concentrated in material
globes, bounded by their gaseous envelopes, and be impossibilities and nonentities where molecules do not exist.
Nevertheless physicists, ignoring many data, have persisted
in discussions and mathematical calculations upon the amount
of heat and light which have been radiated and lost in the
interstellar spaces. Such a wild and wasteful state of things
can have no foundation in the economy of nature. Thermic




MECHHANICAL FORCE.                  373
and electric force and polarities are equally and wholly dependent upon the chemical elements-that is to say, upon
matter and atomicities-for their generation and action; and
must therefore (if we confine remarks to this globe) be limited
within our planet's atmosphere. If radiated from its interior,
these secondary forces must be incessantly consumed throughout its circumference in order to execute the mechanical work
required to clothe, adorn, and elaborate its surface, and to
modify from  cycle to cycle its geographical aspects.  The
necessities of evident terrestrial designs are too numerous to
permit such radiant wastes of energy as existing theories
inculcate. Not only are these forces employed in the crudest
metamorphoses of the earth's surface, and in the continuous
support and progressive development of all organic types and
successions of races, but also for the higher purposes of
incorporating consciousness and intellectuality; of consubstantiating principles of the loftiest and subtlest thought,
which are constantly and palpably striving to exhibit themselves in some substantial manner through every molecule
in the planet.  The geometrical and mathematical elements
everywhere occluded in every known substance and every
known physical force, all tending to. crystallization, to equatorial, polar, segregative, and decussating developments, demonstrate not only the attachment of all force to all matter,
but also the incorporated presence of psychological and
directive principle in the formless dust and most chaotic
conditions of nature, struggling to burst into symmetrical
being, to manifest sensibility and antithesis, persistent progression, and indestructible life and mind. Dynamical energy,
therefore, whatever its state, thermic, electric, &c., far from
being radiated from the globe, as we have all heretofore
supposed, is strictly confined to and conserved in it; and is
furthermore allied with, and directed by, some other force or
principle more profound, abstract, and potent than itself.
This is self-evidently an intellectual and geometrical principle
-universal and  omnipresent-a positively demonstrable,
superintending, indwelling, guiding Power.




374                FORCE AND NATURE.
45.
Electricityand   Now when Ampere, in 1820, conjectured dyMagnetism the namic elements to exist in electro-magnetism, the
Dynamic Counterparts of each equatorial phenomena of which were first disother.    tinctly presented to the scientific world by CErsted
a year previously, and when he reduced them  within the
ranges of numerical law, it will be perceived that the foundations of his studies were solid as well as broad and deep. In
them he recognised a repulsive, a true dynamic element, without however tracing it to its origin. And notwithstanding
he suspected that magnetic induction was derivable in some
way from cosmical sources, conjecturing that solar heat and
light, per se, produced this phenomenon by exciting the surface,or atmosphere in a spiral manner, and thereby transforming
them  into a sort of superficial and natural helix, and so
creating a planetary magnet; it will soon be seen how the
imperfect development of modern mechanical philosophy has
not only curbed and dwarfed the profoundest genius, but also
riveted error upon the scientific world.
Not stopping here to discuss the causes of the cosmical
developments of electricity and magnetism, but admitting
their existence as terrestrial entities, we will for a moment
refer to them as dynamic correlates and equivalents of each
other.  Attraction and repulsion viewed as creative and
creating entities, when once instituted and mixed together in
volumes and as spheres of force, and when unequally diffused
among molecules (these latter viewed also as other entities
with plastic and vibrating capacities), the conditions for the
generation of thermic, electric, and magnetic  phenomena
become established. The existence of these secondary forces
becomes not only an immediate consequence of the first, and
the exact equivalents of their transformed energies, but also
an absolute necessity for the elaboration and multiplication
of natural forms, and for the harmonious unfolding and progression of all geometrical designs, as we behold these forms




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   375
and trace these designs in everything around us. Whenever
and wherever one polar principle receives its birth, the equilibrium  of nature demands its antagonist.  Therefore there
can be no negative element or current without its positive
antithetic, and vice versd. Universal experiment and observation sustain this truth.  The widest ranges of telegraphic
electro-magnetism-really a cosmical branch of study-confirm, indeed, the permanent and general reign of this law.
The forces, consequently, that resolve themselves into dynamic
currents and become sensible and measurable phenomenal
powers, are at base the molecular forces of repulsion, which,
primarily associated with attraction as cosmical aggregates,
are in reality the co-ordinates and counterparts of gravitation.
The oscillations of these entities, acting together and reacting
in conjunction with molecules, become absolute mechanical or
material and molar power, and the subjects of scientific treatment under the name of " rational mechanics." Considered,
however, as ultimate antagonizing forces, associating but specialized and self-segregative essences, possessed of capacities for
differentiation with each other and with molecules, exerting
independent propagative tendencies, and  displaying their
energy through inductive currents; thus considered, these
currents become necessarily capable of transformation into
equatorial and actually repulsive functions. Secondary forces
being really composite and combined expressions of these
currents-the same forces, indeed, modified in their vibratory
measures and compositions by the atomic constitution of the
elementary forms of matter and their compounds-the phenomenal functions of these secondary forces must also follow
the same numerical laws, and resolve themselves under different circumstances into similar conditions of active mechanical power. Thus it may be understood why the electric
and magnetic, and the thermic and luminous, forces possess
and manifest dynamic and equatorial reactions, and special
correlations with each other; why and  how  mechanical
energy may be converted into these various expressions, and
vice versd; and why each and all are endowed with a radiant




376                FORCE AND NATURE.
and repulsive function. The bilateral or dynamical principle
displayed by these secondaries is generated in a similar
manner, and by the same mechanism which we have seen
at work in the plastic masses heretofore presented with the
special object of elucidating this very point.
We cannot here object to this deduction on the ground,
that heat possesses and displays an element of mechanical
energy of its own; for we know that, while heat is an agent
capable of generating mechanical motion, it is yet itself a
result of motion, thus demonstrating its existence to depend
upon the action of more radical causes. Indeed, it becomes
but too evident from this fact, that physical speculations
require restraint upon this subject of heat considered as a
" mode of motion." For, running too far in one direction and
falling short in others, philosophers are at present disposed
to ascribe every material action upon the earth and throughout the heavens to this force alone, as a finality, venturing to
affirm even that it is the antagonist of gravitation, without
knowing what it is, and without interrogating its origin or
mechanism, or even the nature of gravitation.
We cannot object on the ground that cold is, per se, pure
abstract mechanical energy; for we know it to exchange
its functions with those of heat: arid although the mathematical development of this point is too much neglected in
physical study, we must infer from actual data that cold is
the numerical equivalent of heat, and, like that, is an agent
in the expression of dynamic energy.
We cannot object on the ground that galvcnisrm is, per se,
mechanical energy; for we know it to be the correlative of
heat and cold, and to be dependent for its generation upon
molecular vibrations similar to those which produce heat,
although not wholly identical with them. For, omitting allusion to the chemical action of its currents, and only viewing
the convertibility of these currents into their radical molecular principles, it may be here stated that Dr. Edlund of
Sweden has recently determined beyond question that galvanism will rapidly expand metallic conductors independently




MECHANICAL FOR CE.                  377
of heat: thus showing that, while similar to heat in its
mechanical effects, its special power is still a different sort
of entity, and that its vibratory functions are measured by
different expressions of quantity; but that, like heat, it
exhibits the same dynamic energy, derivable in both secondaries from abstract repulsive force itself.
Neither can we object on the ground that electricity is, per
se, mechanical energy; for we have no knowledge of its possible existence independent of the pre-existence of absolute
molecular action: and we have every reason, in the present
state of experimental science, to infer that electrical force is not
a radical principle of matter. Nevertheless, knowing that it
will not only dislodge and separate molecules from one another,
but also translate them corporeally across broken circuits as
if projecting them  through space, and knowing even that
purely inductive currents will effect the same phenomena, we
detect in these displays of force and functional action the
presence of the very same principle which exists in the
radical from which it has sprung, which gives it distinctive
energy, without which it cannot be made manifest, and into
which it vanishes when converted into motion. It is scarcely
necessary to array here the experiments of Daniel, Foucault,
Ruhmkorff, and others in evidence of these truths; for the
opinion of physicists is now settled upon the mathematical
and immoveable axiom  that "mechanical force" itself-an
unknown something-that something called by Mr. Rankine
" potential energy,"-is capable of being converted by instrumental experiments into electricity, and of being modified,
and made to pass through every variety and degree of radiant
and repulsive secondary force-heat, light, magnetism, actinism, sound, and even odour-and finally of being converted
back again into the same invisible, intangible, insensible,
vanishing principle from which it is so mysteriously induced.
Now this final principle of energy we have already intimated and shown to be repulsion (an abstract entity, to be
sure, but no more so than attraction, which is universally admitted to be a cosmic force), springing from cosmnical fountains




3 7 8             FORCE AND NATURE.
of an inexhaustible and self-sustaining character, which,
reacting with gravitation among molecules, penetrates and
glides through all matter everywhere, as water through a
sponge, actually simulating the properties of a fluid and the
" diffusive" properties of gases, and which in its action we
may compare with the movements of fluids, because molecules, as chemical liquids and gases, are mobile and plastic,.and are moved in broken masses and currents by these immaterial and metaphysical agencies. It is here that metaphysical and material entities meet and mingle to constitute
dynamics and the mathematics, lay the foundations of
physical developments, and constitute positive science and
intellectual philosophy.
Thus forces capable of penetrating matter everywhere
are, on account of their excessive subtlety and opposite
characters, propagated from molecule to molecule, delivering
them from inertia, and stamping them all with fixed or transient polarities, and with living dynamical powers. So much,can be experimentally, mathematically, and inductively
grasped, and safely affirmed: indeed, much more.  Matter
being accumulated in masses, every molecular principle of a
kindred character would obviously affiliate, and thus magnify
themselves into unitary conditions, with unique expressions
and capacities; and with functions, moreover, which, if convertible anywhere or ever into equivalents of others, would
be so everywhere and always. And this remarkable state of
things must, upon palpable internal evidence, actually have
happened in the beginning, thereby presenting the broadest
foundations for the action and birth of general physical laws,
and for those very cosmical quantities and universal dynamic
phenomena, a knowledge of which was long since acquired
through the equations of Newton, La Grange, Ampere, and
Gauss, while those illustrious men were entirely ignorant of
their correlations and equivalencies, their internal essences
and mechanism, or their remote causations and origin.




MECEANICAL FORCE.                    379
46.
Terrestrial  Convinced by present acquirements in physical
originof local knowledge that all electric and magnetic currents
Mechanical   originate in, are inductive from, and radiate either
Energy.    directly or indirectly out of the GLOBE as the fountain of every form  and constituency of mechanical force, and
that abstract immaterial mechanical energy, as we have thus
far discussed and developed its dual principles, is absolutely
convertible through molecular motion into every form  and
expression of secondary force, passing successively from heat
through electricity, magnetism, &c., and vice versd, it follows
that this same mechanical energy itself, as HYPOSTATICAL MOTIVE
POWER, must proceed out of the globe also; and whether manifested through experimentation, motive or locomotive inventions, or even in animal motion upon land or in the water,
must involve the necessity of oscillating currents and antithetic conflicts of both repulsive and attractive energetics reacting from the earth's centre, and emanating and radiating
from its surface incessantly and universally. And since we
can now demonstrate that all thermic and electric currents
and tensions are generated by the subtle and insensible
transmissions of these radical forces through matter, initiating
molecular vibrations in the course of their passage to combine with their cognates in distant places, in order thus to
establish or repair disturbed equilibria; these transmitted
forces being interrupted, decomposed, worked up, and converted into sensible dynamic and material force, palpable
mechanical and phenomenal power; having  reached  this
profundity of knowledge, we can begin to understand how
the two electricities (simple radical cosmic repulsion, and
attraction decomposed and materialized, so to speak)-in other
words, how dual, electric, and polar currents-by agitating
molecules in conductors, instituting reaction, and generating
tension and mutual leverage among those molecules, may
develop equatorial, radial, and inductive phenomena, direct




3 8 0              FORCE AND NATURE.
electric elements transforming themselves into crucial and
magnetic ones, attractions into repulsions; and vice versa,
under reversed circumstances.
47.
So extensive is the possible application of these principles,
that we can even trace the same telluric mechanical energy
converting itself, within organic forms, into every variety of
secondary force.  Not only does it so act as to separate
actinically and translate dynamically the very mineral and
metallic elements of the planet into vegetable and animal
organisms, developing the bulk of their structure, pushing
them irresistibly upward and downward and every way by
additional increments of solid matter, and even instituting
locomotion by detaching countless races from the planet's
surface, through occult processes of life demanding incessant
supplies of pure repulsive energy;-not only all this, but mechanical force also so acts in organic forms and processes of
life as to exhibit conversions of its composite essence into thermic, electric, and magnetic functions, in like manner as such
conversions are effected, known, and measurable in crystalline
and all other purely physical conditions of nature; assuming
crucial, decussating, and segmentary offices, and even assuming
directive agencies in unfolding the symmetrical archetypes
of locomotive being which have been established throughout
the lands and waters of the globe. Everywhere, and through
immeasurable time, the same dual principles have underlaid
and overshadowed organic creation, manifesting their dynamical elements and ceaseless activities in the progressive
developments of diversified types of axial and crucial structure, and transforming their subtle energies into the absolute
powers and equivalents of life and health.  Facts derived
from  anatomical, physiological, and pathological studies of
plants and animals, especially of the human frame-the




MECH.4NICAL FORCE.                  3 81
most elaborate of all organisms-test the truth  of these
inductions, in both an analytical and synthetical sense. I
need barely allude to what we now know experimentally of
the action of galvanism, heat, electricity, magnetism, and
light upon every normal condition of vegetative, germinal,
and locomotive being, in order to fix attention upon a subject
which only requires to be thoroughly studied in connexion
with primal telluric mechanical force to remove it equally
from  the realns of superstition and materialism, and to
impart even to its metaphysical sequences a mathematical
basis as exact and solid as the mechanics of the heavens.
Lesions of the cerebral hemispheres and commissures, and of
the various columns of the medulla oblongata and spinalis,
and their offshoots, prove the material capacities of these
organs to be adapted to, and employed in, not only the
receptivity and propagation of forces from without, but also
the subsequent distribution, modification, and conversion of
these forces into internal motive and phenomenal power.
That influent and effluent currents of cosmical energy are in
constant action and reaction throughout the microscopic structure of every organ is proved by numerous experiments and
various sorts of observation.
In hemiplegia the conducting circuit is broken; but where
the hemispheric lesion is not so extensive as to wholly cut off
the propagative action of these currents-currents of pure
mechanical energy directly and inductively absorbed out of
the planet, in like manner as the electricities are inductive
and absorbable-corpuscular connexions are sooner or later
restored, normal circulations of all kinds are re-established,
and molecular vibrations again effect harmonious relations
between the vital and polar attributes of the organism and
the central and polar forces of the material globe.  In this
restorative process we plainly detect the execution of the
same mechanical laws which is witnessed in the broken
circuit of electric currents, viz. the absolute corporeal translation of molecules from one pole toward the other-except
that, under the instinctive guidance of life, the molecules in




382                FORCE ANDI NATURE.
the former case are progressively organized and vitalized,
and at last united, filling and consolidating the void, and
restoring abnormal conditions to lawful and. healthful ones.
The mechanical work accomplished in both cases is similar;
the forces employed in the execution of it are the same: all
spring from and return into the bosom of the planet. And if
one expression of these forces be destructive, and the other
constructive, it is because life is a positive principle of
energy, as superior in itself to physical forces as physical
forces are more commanding and potent in their action than
the molecules which obey their influences.
In paraplegia wider phases of the same phenomena are
revealed.  And here we see a full manifestation of the dual
principles lending their energies in the completest manner to
assist the plans, developments, progressions, and perpetuations
of life.
Now, since we know by manifold experiments that influent
currents of electric force are incessantly traversing the frames
of animals through the extremities of their locomotive members, and that these currents follow mainly the course of the
nerves and the decussations of the spinal marrow to reach
the sensorii of the opposite hemispheres of the brain, we may
clearly infer that the terminal swellings of these electroorganic conductors are legitimate growths from, and the segmentative formative results of, the inductive action of our
two cosmical forces upon plastic and omnifarious molecules.
In the course of their telluric reactions these radicals have
generated thermic and electro-magnetic currents, the polarities
of which, associating themselves with life, decussate as in
metallic conductors, and, accumulating in terminal tensions,
consentiently attract and transport matter; thereby building
up ganglionic tissue at opposite poles, and establishing bilateral
and equal hemispheres, the very duality and co-ordination of
which are essential to mental, vital, and physical harmony
and efficiency, and the reactionary and reflex energies of
which are also equatorial, radial, motive, dynamic, and creative, as witnessed in vertebral developments and in every




MECHANICAL FORCE.                   383
department of nature.  These forces, moreover, in virtue of
the indisputable capacities for life and mind existent in all
matter, have thus self-evidently laid foundations for the
origin and development of organic beings, and for the progressive mutations of generic types and locomotive races, the
spontaneous appearance and countless successions of which,,
from cycle to cycle, throughout the lands and waters of an
unstable planet, have been among the darkest problems in
science.
The abnormal action of the ganglio-medullary organs, and of
their offshoots and forces, whether ending in, or appearing as,
exaltations or depressions of function-as inspirations or
mania, neuralgia or torpor, palsy or convulsions; inflammation, heat,  and hypertrophy, or anaemia, coldness, and
atrophy-all alike reveal the subtle inductive and differentiating relations of the cosmo-dynamic forces to the material
and sensitive structure of organic tissues. Studied in theirbroadest and profoundest references to locality, climate, altitude, sea, land, light, darkness, and occupation, the vital
energies are found to be absolutely and constantly dependent
upon special conditions of telluric force —potential planetary
energies-which are often excited and modified periodically
and palpably by distant planetary influences. These facts are
too well known to be disputed. It is, indeed, through disease
that we are led to a clear appreciation of the character and
mechanism  of the forces which maintain muscular motion,
sustentation, health, and life.  As in all other actinic changes,,
we detect the flitting passage and constant agency of the
same insensible antithetic forces-abstract motive energetics
-leaving marks behind them, and making manifest material
and sensible phenomena.  It is, moreover, through studies of
the internal action and external perturbation of these same:
forces that the medical philosopher must seek to perfect his
nosological systems, and the naturalist his classifications of
organic developments.  But it is especially through computations upon experimental data, derived from the health and
activity of the human body, that this problem has been of




384                FORCE,AVD NzTURE.
late reduced within the proximate limits of physical law, and
that animal beings have been virtually and palpably brought
into their natural connexions with the central and excentral
forces of the planet from which they immediately spring, and
by which they are multiplied, modified, and perpetuated.
The numerical results alluded to being seasonable to our
present object, they have only to be plainly introduced in
order to expose the real difference between abstract mechanical force (force per se) and mechanical power-between
"potential energy" and "actual energy," as Mr. Rankine
denominates these entities-and the exact relations which
the former sustain to the latter, as motive, practical, and
creative agencies in nature and art. Their consideration will
also bring us legitimately and definitively to the conclusion
of this branch of our study, and, completing the circle of
terrestrial physics, take us back to the point from which we
started at the opening of this pregnant chapter.
48.
My illustrious and venerated friend, Baron Justus Von
Liebig, far in advance of all other philosophers, so far as I
know, long ago proclaimed, and his numerous disciples have
in turn taught the doctrine, that the force exerted by an
organic being in performing the work within its own body,
and externally also through muscular and mechanical labour,
is altogether derivable from, and developed in similar proportions to, the food and oxygen consumed; and that this
force is generated within the organism in like manner as fire
in a furnace, and, like this also, is capable of evolving
mechanical motion and effective work in fixed ratios to the
fuel consumed.
Now, important a step as was this announcement, beyond
the speculations and utter ignorance prevailing prior to
his immortal discoveries in organic chemistry, it must be




IIfECHANICA L FORCE               385
admitted that later experiments of different kinds, instituted
by various physicists in order to ascertain by measurement
the exact sums of mechanical power expended and effective work performed, internally and externally, by animal
organisms, in comparison with the sums absolutely developed, and capable of development, by the igneous combustion and chemical decomposition of given quantities of
different sorts of food consumed by the same organisms,
exhibit results suggestive and conclusive-that the sources of
mechanical force, per se, are still more profound than the simple
chemical changes which transpire momentarily in the molecular structure of muscular fibre, and in the decarbonization
of the blood, or which can be derived from the food consumed and assimilated with the circulating vessels.  The
most reliable observations and calculations thus far obtained
upon this subject, analysed and summed up in a very able
manner by Professor Frankland, in his researches "On the
Sources of Muscular Power," published in the Proceedings
of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, June 6, 1866,
afford solid bases for philosophical induction, and establish
this point beyond question. The plain mathematical truth
reached by his investigations, setting aside all speculative
conclusions to which he may incline, is that the abstract
force required, and absolutely consumed, in the various kinds
of animal work performed in ascending mountains, moving
treadmills, lifting weights, and executing hard daily labour,
is from one-third to one-half greater than can be derived
from food consumed, or the same solid matter converted by
combustion into heat and mechanical motion.  " Thus," he
says, "even under the extremely unfavourable conditions of
"these determinations, the actual work performed exceeded
"that which could possibly be produced through the oxida" tion of the nitrogenous constituents of the daily food by
"more than twenty per cent."
The final conclusion from all these facts is, therefore, simply
this, that food introduced into animal organisms acts like the
slip of platinum inserted into the jar of oxygen and hydrogen,
C C




386                FOR CE AND  NTURE.
and like the rod of glass into the crystallizable solution of
Glauber's salt.  It is not more the pabulum  of material
repair and support, than the medium  and excito-motor
through which crude, terrestrial, and metaphysical energy is
induced insensibly to enter the body from without, in order
to react in turn and be converted into sensible, physical, and
phenomenal results. The primal presence of lifeless masses
of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen in the midst of
life excites the entire compound of elements constituting an
organism to begin instantly and actively to absorb additional
increments of energy from the external world, to be employed
within the structure itself, and be discharged again in the
forms of heat, electricity, light, muscular power, and productive work. As an electro-magnetic apparatus, the molecules
of which, once touched and jarred by the electrophore, and
thus inoculated with magnetic vibrations and attuned into
electric measures, is afterwards linked with the entire volume
of electro-dynamic energy existing in the globe and cosmos,
and thereby becomes capable of converting cosmical repulsion
and attraction into electro-dynamic currents, and of receiving
the former from telluric sources as mechanical force, and
again distributing it as modified, phenomenal, and productive
energy; so it is with living organisms. Mechanical energy
-the compound mixture, so to speak, of attraction and
repulsion-having once excited living structures into corpuscular and systo-diastolic motion, the same crude potential
energetics existing in the planet as cosmic forces, and binding
all parts into one varied whole, are induced, absorbed, subdivided, differentiated, specialized, and converted into the
working power of the animal, brought to bear through the
action of muscular fibre upon the shafts and cogs of the
bony skeleton, and distributed in the performance of internal
functions, and in the development of external phenomena,
similar to those produced by the wheel and axle and the
general leverage of mechanical machines.
The searching  spirit of Liebig  caught but prophetic
glimpses of the sources of subtle motive agencies, when he




MfECHANICJL FORCE.                   387
said, "Plants...are accumulators of force.... And while
" these tissues in their turn are resolved in the vital process
"into formless or inorganic compounds, the force stored up
" in them is manifested in the most various effects, like
"a galvanic battery, the peculiar properties of which are
"determined by a certain arrangement of its elements, and
"which consumes itself in giving rise to new manifestations,
"magnetic, electrical, or chemical."  Now, the battery does
not consume itself by its own stores of internal force. But
it is consumed, if consumed at all, by forces the sources of
which are external to it, and which, proceeding out of the
globe and back into the globe, with a swiftness more subtle
and delicate than lightning itself, generate electricity and
muscular power in a similar manner, acting and reacting
among atoms, rejected everywhere as quickly as received,
alike in the battery and in the organisms of plant or animal,
and connecting locomotive beings with the elements and
centre of the planet, and with the central and excentral
forces which  at one and  the same instant control all
molecular motion and the universal motions of the heavens,
An animal organism, considered also in the light of a
heat-producing  apparatus, derives its powers necessarily
from  the same sources.  And while the food is a plastic
medium for chemical changes, a basis for the generation of
the mechanical power and the secondary forces exhibited in
organic life, their primaries, the radical principles from which
they spring, must be the cosmico-mechanical forces of gravitation and repulsion.  "Respiration," says Liebig, "is the
" falling weight, the bent spring, which keeps the clock in
"motion; the inspirations and expirations are the strokes of
"the pendulum which regulate it.  Whenever it is vouch"safed to the feeble senses of man to cast a glance into the
depths of creation, he is compelled to acknowledge the
"greatness and wisdom of the Creator of the world. The
"greatest miracle which he is capable of comprehending is
"that of the infinite simplicity of the means by the co"operation of which order is preserved in the universe as
cc2




38                 FORCE AND NAfTURE.
" well as in the organism, and the life and continued exist" ence of organized beings are secured."
In the palpable action of repulsion as a coszical agent,
in conjunction, and in antagonistic conflict, with attraction,
among the molecules of the various chemical elements constituting cosmic masses, we discover the subtlety of the dynamic
secret so remarkably conspicuous in experimentation upon
the secondary forces, so reducible to quantity by the calculus,
and so accordant with the general laws of dynamics which
pervade and govern the broadest domains of the physical
universe.  Upon these last points of law and numbers the
immortal labours of Newton, Ampere, Liebig, and Mayer
converge.  And nothing is now lacking to remove exact
science and positive philosophy wholly from the realms of
speculation and empiricism, but the acceptance of cosmical
repulsion as the co-ordinate and co-efficient of gravitation.
The introduction of this principle into public education, as
an element in celestial as well as in molecular physics, is, I
hold, as indispensable to a clear understanding of the general
economy of nature, as was its action in the beginning to
unfold and perfect the plans and works of the Creator. We
may indeed predict from this point of view the coming of a
new era, as important to the progress of exact learning as
that which superseded the scholasticism and dialectics of the
Sorbonne.
49.
General Appli- Now, when we study the geological aspects of
cation ofthe  the planetnot merely mineralogical specimens
preceding
Principles.   and cabinets, but the granite rocks and palkeozoic
strata at large and in sit —in the light of all that precedes,
arriving thereby at notions of time, periods, and cycles of
ages, and displays of force which only  the profoundest
studies of geology and astronomy can impart to man, we
shall begin to comprehend the grand logical sequence and




MTECGHANICAL FORCE.                 389
fact, that the infinitudes and endless successions of organisms,
the remains of which have been piled up thousands of feet
in thickness throughout the surface of the planet, were so
many temporary galvanic batteries, small or great, aquatic
or terrane, employed in inductions and conversions of crude
cosmic energy into mechanical and phenomenal, creative and
productive, power. And now for the first time, in view of all
this mighty ard eternal work of creation and generation, we
shall begin to doubt whether the heat, electricity, and magnetism generated in and radiating from the interior of the
planet were, or are designed to be, diffused, dissipated, and
wasted in void and desolate space, or to be appropriated, just
as they have been and are ernployed, for the special local work
and general purposes of covering, smoothing, adorning, vivifying, and utilizing the surface. It must be very plain that
no generation or display of muscular or mechanical energy
could begin to appear upon the primal surface of our planet,
unless that energy in one form or another proceeded from the
internal forces of the planet; for all molecular motion implies
the absolute necessity of the connexion of the molecular
forces involved in the phenomenon with their cosmical congeners, and vice versa. We therefore perceive that all force
disengaged from, and proceeding out of, the planet's interior
mass executes now, as at first, a multitudinous work upon its
surface, under some imminent and appreciable, but invisible,
prescient, guiding Providence; that as organic forms are
undergoing continuous metamorphoses through propagations
of force and translations of molecules, the agencies thus induced and employed are returned again into the great reservoir
whence they issued; that if refrigerations of the earth have
taken place, and consequent depressions and irregularities of
its crust have ensued, the heat liberated has been immediately
converted into economical purposes in its envelopes, and been
persistently employed in mechanical and creative work upon
its surface; and that thereby has been sustained that equilibrium of the forces at first communicated to the earth as
a celestial body, and which Laplace, Delaunay, and others




390                 FORCE AND NATURE.
have shown to have been nearly invariable, or only slightly
variable, at least for the last two thousand years. Here, then,
we may conclude that all molecular pulsating forces, and
consequently all cosmo-dynamic energy, are directly local in
their phenomenal action and design, and confined to the
various individual globes of matter which, isolated as suns,
planets, &c., move around each other in paths determined by
the chemical constitutions of their respective masses.
Now, if molecular force be dual-that is, composed of
attraction and repulsion-then cosmical force must be dual
also; and inasmuch as the law of probabilities indicates that
no two celestial bodies are chemically identical, considered
in regard both to quantity and quality, whatever their origin,
or however created or segregated, it follows that the equilibrium of their respective internal forces must be more or
less variable, and always unstable, and consequently that their
densities-that is to say, their central and excentral action and
reaction-must be fluctuating from moment to moment, and
for ever inconstant.  And inasmuch, also, as the masses composing our system are held to the sun by the sum  of their
molecular forces mutually acting and reacting from  their
respective centres, it equally follows that their orbits must
always be elliptical and differently elongated, their heliocentric distances various, their velocities never at consecutive
moments the same; and that the instability of equilibrium
distinguishing each must be for ever maintained, in virtue
of the fluctuating functions of the forces and matter embraced within their various boundaries. These general conditions, long ago determined as mathematical facts by the
successive discoveries and labours of Copernicus, Galileo,
Tycho Brahe,. Kepler, and Newton, are just what should
exist as combined results of chemical action and reactionthat is to say, of the play of moleculo-physical laws. The
points requiring demonstration in order to reach a complete
understanding and true theory of the cosmos are, firstly, that
which connects motion with mechanical force; and, secondly,
that which resolves mechanical force into its final elements




MECEIJNICL FORCE.                 391
as specific causative entities, and fixed combining and separating quantities.  It is of no consequence to science and philosophy if these forces be metaphysical and transcendental
in their nature, and only discoverable and measurable in
their powers and quantities by their effects through matter.
They are no more so than the mathematics.  And if all
indicate sources of still higher and more abstract knowledge
and power yet beyond our reach, even these are nothing more
than what the common subtle consciousness of man has
accepted through intuitive and prophetic glimpses from the
earliest times.
Thus the mysteries of celestial dynamics begin to vanish,
and physical and organic laws in their widest ranges to be
better understood, through rigorous studies of molecular
phenomena and the application  of experimental data to
astronomical and geometrical problems.
50.
Resum and    But our investigations are not yet finished. It
Conclusion. remains now to examine as briefly as possible the
wonderful phenomena of cosmical motion lately alluded to
in view of, and in relation to, the facts and principles thus
far discussed and deduced, in order not only to establish
beyond question the finality of our generalizations, but also
to solidify the foundations upon which  they rest.  The
system of the world is so geometrical, exact, and correlative
a structure in all its parts, and is so nicely adjusted by its
weights and measures, that if one globe be accurately known,
and the specific nature and mechanism of the forces which
act throughout that globe be also known, the entire problem
of physical and organic development will solve itself to the
enlightened sense of studious scholars.
In the preceding chapters we attempted to unveil space;
and arrived at the conclusion that it was infinite absolute




392                FORCE AND NATURE.
vacuum.  In this vacuum we traced the limited existence of
material molecules agglomerated into exceedingly numerous
isolated round balls more or less dense, solid, fluid, or gaseous.
We descried these balls moving around each other in paths
exhibiting constant, but various, eccentric  and elliptical
elements, and mutually influencing each other by certain
peculiar inherent principles of energy, which manifest a
double form of centripetal and centrifugal action and reaction,
developing internal and external dynamic phenomena of a
local or general character.  We studied these dynamic phenomena generally and in detail, and found their variations
of annual and total intensity to be periodical, and strictly
coincident with known cosmo-mathematical laws of "inverse
distances;" and, so far as accurate and indisputable data
derived from  cometary and terrestrial observations can be
weighed and appreciated, we found the internal physical
excitations and eruptive reactions of bodies revolving around
the sun to bear close and constant inverse numerical relations
to the length and sweep of their radii vectores-to be positively
greatest at perihelion and positively least at aphelion. We discovered all these variations of dynamic intensity, whether
repulsive and eruptive or barometric and gravitative, to be
associated with thermic, magnetic, electrical, or luminous
phenomena partaking of similar numerical elements and
governed by similar geometrical laws; and, so far as the
thermic phenomena, strictly speaking, could be  studied
through volcanic and seismic data, we were compelled to
conclude that the interior of our planet is incandescent and
more or less molten from its centre to its crust. In our discussions of force, abstractly and exclusively considered-indeed
considered every way-we traced molecular attraction and
molecular repulsion by ascending and inductive steps into
planetary quantities; and following these antagonistic principles rigorously into their voluminous association with each
other and with matter, we discovered the elements of cosmodynamic energy and celestial motion to be also dual, and that
the generation of mechanical phenomena, whether small or




iMECHANICAL FORCE                   393
great, whether mundane or stellar, spontaneously springs from
the lively exertion of some occult animus, immanent and selfexistent in every jot of both these forces, to separate, segregate,
and alienate each from the other, in order to affiliate, if possible, with their respective congeners existing in larger volumes
elsewhere. In this mutual but constantly abortive exertion to
effect the union of "like force " with "like force" we detected
the mechanism of other concomitant elements of nature, the
subtle secrets of elective and mutual affinity and of polarityprinciples as clearly cosmical as they are chemical; and we
began to see how an idea advanced at first by Empedocles in
a distinctly speculative sense, 500 years prior to our era,
embraced  afterwards with indefiniteness in Grecian and
Arabian learning, and vitalizing the progressive developments
of alchemy and chemistry, became at last the positive and
mathematical entity whereupon all modern chemical theories
are based.
In the preceding parts of the present chapter we have
traced these subtle principles of attraction and repulsion-so
cosmical and universal in their widest ranges, and so molecular, actinic, and subdivisible in their ultimate aspectsinto their associations and dissociations with atoms, and
among the elementary forms of matter.  We have seen how
these forces, in the course of their immensely swift, incessant,
and unrestrainable translations in oloposite directions through
the various elements, affect molecules with vibratory action;
and, thus generating undulatory material motion, become not
only absorbed into these elements to supersaturation, as water
into sponges, but also transformed, in consequence of these
combinations and antithetic reactions, into appreciable mechanical energetics assuming quantitative conditions and
pregnant with measurable capabilities and results.  In analysing these conditions, capabilities, and results, we became
able to distinguish plainly the manner and mechanism  by
which the immaterial entities of attraction and repulsion
are linked with matter, and how in propagating themselves
from one focus to another, in order to unite with cognates or




3 9 4              FORCE AND) NATURE.
fly from  antithetics, they loaded molecules and masses with
motive tendencies and transformed themselves into sensible
mechanical energy. We traced this mechanical energy through
its developments into a multitude of phenomena, all charged
with, composed of, inseparable from, and governed by the
same radical forces, converted by motion, however-that is to
say, their own action upon molecules-into secondary forces
of diversified forms. We thus discovered the very mechanism
by which heat, electricity, magnetism, and light are generated;
forces absolutely immaterial in themselves also, but so appreciable to the senses and mind of man, so much within the
reach of experimental and mathematical inquiry, as to show
that they are the veritable instruments by which all departments of creation have been excited into development, and
upon which all depend for their maintenance and progression. We were able, furthermore, to trace the generation
of heat to its final sources, and to settle the question of
its origin for all time, proving the existence of "fire " even,
however intense its phenomena, to be simply a result of the
antithetic propagations of attraction and repulsion through
molecules, fixed intensities of action producing fixed intensities
in effects, and showing that not a particle of matter, nor a
jot of force of any sort, is consumed, destroyed, or lost in
processes of combustion. At this point we were brought
into connexion with the great discoveries of Dr. J. R. Mayer,
Dr. J. P. Joule, and Professor Michael Faraday, of the correlations and numerical equivalencies of motion, heat, thermoelectricity, electro-magnetism, and mechanical force, of the
mutual convertibility directly or indirectly of all these entities
into each other, and of the general laws of conservation which
pervade and govern all the transformations of mechanical
energy. Accepting these discoveries to be of equal importance
in the developments of philosophy to those of Kepler and
Newton, we were enabled further to trace from this point the
molecular forces into their dynamical elements or functions
when converted through vibrations of matter into electricity,
inagnetism, heat, and fire-that is to say, into the phenomena




MECHANICAL FORCE.                  395
of combustion; thereby demonstrating fire to be only the
intense conflict of antithetic currents of cosmic attraction and
cosmic repulsion, the crude universal forces of matter, flowing
in and out of the globe with immense velocities, through such
elementary substances, or their compounds, as are specifically
excited by sycarks TO INDUCE local currents and tensions of
these fundamental energetics. Herefrom followed the wonderful truth, that a glowing spark capable of igniting carbon,
oxygen, hydrogen, or any substance, is actually a certain
species of electrophorus-strictly speaking, a thermophorewhich, by its specific character, will inoculate every form of
matter under certain circumstances with its own powers, and
thereby communicate the occult capacity of inducing intense
influxes of repulsion from the general fountain of planetary
energy; and this to such an extent and so swiftly, as to
push the particles of many substances asunder with terrific
violence, repel them into the widest diffusion, and throw them
into such new conditions as to assume other forms or motions
under the influences of attraction. By graphical discussions
of absolute and authentic data, following nature with studious
care, chaining the discoveries of Empedocles, Copernicus,
Kepler, and Newton with those of Rumford, Faraday, Mayer,
Kirchhoff, Liebig, and Frankland, we were thus able legitimately to link crude abstract cosmic energy with chemical
and all other forms of secondary force, with dynamic power,
and with universal motion.  Examining first the origin of
motion, and finally tracing motion back to its fundamental
causes, we found it, by processes both of analysis and synthesis,
to be a compound phenomenon; that is to say, we found matter
to consist of a multitude of specially sensitive plastic substances distributed unequally through space, and subordinate
to the distinct measurable influence of two subtle potential
entities, which, manifesting positive antagonistic properties
and compelling masses to roll, gravitate toward, and recede
from each other, resolve themselves in connexion with matter
into the physical phenomena of motion and dynamic power.
In the reactionary nature of these compound, decomposing,




396                FORCE AND NA4TURE.
and recombining elements of energy we discovered the real
essence of mechanical force-an cpparently unitary principle
when acting upon matter in motion, the duality of which,
however, becomes self-evident by this very motion, inasmuch
as matter only moves in one direction or another in virtue of
the influence of attraction or repulsion, each of which is incessantly seeking to separate itself from its antithetic in order
to unite with its cognate elsewhere. This antagonism being
mutual, indeed strengthened and eternized in its mechanical
and phenomenal results, in virtue of the fact that matter
manifests as active an animus to rid itself of one or the other
of these forces, or of both, as the forces do to separate from
each other and from matter;-these conditions existing, and
the unequal distributions of the various elements of matter
and of the original sums of attraction and repulsion, as acting
and reacting triangular entities, thus to speak, having been
so arranged in the beginning by the Creator of all things
that stability of equilibrium nowhere exists and can be
nowhere possible, motion necessarily becomes universal and
eternal; and, of course, heat, light, electricity, and magnetism
become equally active, universal, and eternal, and the inevitable correlatives of the energies from which they spring: and,
drawing their power from these sources and no other, their
mathematical elements and dynamic functions must be similar and convertible also.  Hence, and thus, we discover the
nature of the laws through which all forces become conservable
and convertible, and the correlatives and equivalents of each
other; extending the conclusions of Mayer, realizing the predictions of Faraday, linking all matter with all forces, and
the beginning of things with the present; and proving, finally,
by the severest inductions, that force and matter are not only
compound entities consisting of various, specific, measurable,
and fixed quantities, neither of which is self-creative or selfdestructive, or destructible in any way, but that these entities
bind up also within themselves, everywhere and under all circumstances, the presence of a Supreme, Intellectual, Guiding
Spirit, without which their mechanical action would end in




MIECHANICWL FORCE.                   397
uncertain and indefinite results. To this point philosophy,
based upon facts and exact science, legitimately tends. And
it is when we trace matter and force into organic phenomena,
and especially their relations to vital and cerebral developments, that distinct inductions of instinctive and intellectual
energy begin sensibly to appear: at first exciting crudest
acts of vegetative, muscular, and mechanical motion; subsequently appearing more distinctly in the subtlest workings
of an inner consciousness; and finally revealing a universe
of metaphysics coequal and coextensive, at least, with that
of physics and of mechanical power.
As a conclusion, indeed, reaching toward the occult origin
of things, we remark, in closing this branch of our subject,
and in order to connect it with a subsequent chapter, that
science and philosophy tend to the exposition of an unique
and all-pervading Providence in the cosmos: not, of an
agency whose consciousness and energy are remote and
doubtful essences or simple equivalents of atheism; but to a
vast and comprehensive monodeism, so to speak, whose individuality and penetrative presence, prescience, and activity,
everywhere demonstrable, exclude all possible accident or
indefiniteness from  the mechanical or material and organic
developments of nature.  Few who cultivate the sciences in
detail will question their capacities to exhibit both direct and
inductive proofs that this directive principle is an individuality, as definite in its being and character as the matter
and the forces with which it is associated, and upon which it
acts; and that it is in the same sense an absolute integral
unit capable also of manifesting segmentative and absorptive
functions, so to speak, yet exalted above all other principles in
subtlety and power, and thereby establishing the universality
of its reign in nature. And that this supreme unitary energy
subjects itself, scientifically speaking, to analogous laws in
its relations to matter as do the forces which it controls and
the mathematical elements, the combining laws of which we
know, is clearly established by observations upon the instincts
and faculties of animals, upon the human understanding, and




398                 FORCE AND NSITURE.
upon nervous and mental development in general in connexion
with  health, disease, and death, and with experiments of
various sorts, such as freezing, excitation, anaesthesis, &c.,
upon the cerebral, ganglionic, and medullary tissues of both
vertebrate and invertebrate  organisms.  In this manner
science and philosophy, exact and positive, are able not only
to identify the existence of the Divine Energy, but also to
limit the field and define the modes in which this Energy
works, and to reduce abstract inquiry from unknown chaotic
and speculative outlines into comparatively narrow and fixed
boundaries.
Rigorously following the mandates of Bacon through the
entire domain of physics and into organic study, we at last
enter that field of transcendental inquiry heretofore so profoundly and prophetically explored by Locke, Kant, and
Hegel.  Here, asserting the supremacy of our own nature,
and lifting thought from matter and force toward that which
is grander still, science encounters pure Mind, and detects
the existence of One Supreme and absolute Being everywhere,
affirmatively present and active throughout the infinite and
the infinitesimal, and stamping all things with such a unity of
purpose as to inspire us with the impression that
"All are but parts of one stupendous whole,
Whose body nature is, and God the soul."
Such is an incomplete summary of, and corollary from, the
points and principles hitherto  discussed. And, so far, we
have not departed from the narrow paths of fact and logic,
however imperious or seductive have been a hundred theories
to awe or win us away from  truth, and weaken our steps
with doubt or error.  It is here, then, that we can begin
boldly to apply our principles to distant and profound realms
of inquiry, and attempt the solution of cosmical problems
which have heretofore defied the penetration of speculative
mathematics.




CHAPTER XI.
CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.
1.
THUS far we have proceeded, from step to step, with unrelaxing severity, as indicated in the summary of the last
chapter.  Ascending from chaos and from the initiatives of
creation through demonstrated and accepted conditions of
force and nature, subjecting elements and final principles,
together with their inseparable union and reactions, to such
critical inquiries and analyses as authentic observations and
experiments have suggested and permitted, we finally arrive
at the demonstrations, that mechanical force is a compound
agent, and that its constituents, attraction and repulsion, are
the bases of every degree of activity, and of every act of
phenomenal development, observable throughout the realms
of both molecular and cosmical physics. It is at this point,
then, that we find ourselves prepared to enter more distant,
and heretofore uncertain and theoretical fields, and apply the
principles already established, in order to elucidate phenomena of a celestial nature, which, being strictly and entirely
cosmical, are also cognate with those of an experimental character, and which correspond, moreover, with those observable
throughout the physical structure of our own planet.




400                 FORCE AND NATUR-E.
2.
Mayer's Theory The unpretending but immortal Julius Robert
of olarHeat. Mayer, progressively extending his physical discussions upon "forces" as " causes," the final equivalences of
these causes and their effects, and the convertibility and indestructibility of forces, at last, in 1848, applied the principles
he had previously discovered to celestial dynamics.
It has been long supposed that terrestrial light and heat
are derivable from  solar radiation alone.  The causes, however, which have persistently generated such intense light
and heat in the sun as would be necessary to supply the
globes constituting the solar system with warmth and lustre,
have always been only subjects of conjecture, and up to this
voment are absolutely undenonstrated.  The Newtonian (and
heretofore unquestioned) theory of celestial motion and dynamics formally and unreservedly excludes from  consideration
the diffusive and convective play of internal forces of active
repulsion and attraction, as excentral and concentral, centrifugal and centripetal, oscillating cosmic agents; and thus
sets at naught the natural and potential effects of the action
and reaction of cosmo-molecular forces in a mass of chemical
substances 1,200,000 times the volume, and 314,000 times
the weight of our own planet. Nevertheless, some exhaustless
radiant energy has been constantly, though paradoxically, insisted upon as necessary to enable our central orb to diffuse
his rays so far and potently as to heat and illuminate his
numerous and various appendages.  The heat and  light
wasted in space, under all theories, have been incalculable,
inasmuch as these purely local moleculo-vibratory motions
of solar matter have always been considered in some way as
diffusive and substantive objects.  An unwavering disciple
of Newton, and a strict believer also in modern optical doctrines, Dr. Mayer sought for adequate "causes," in order to
reconcile his own discoveries with accepted theories. This
was to " put new wine into old bottles." Knowing that the




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.    401
height of fall and the velocity of falling bodies bear special
numerical relations to the amounts of heat produced by impact, he prosecuted his researches from this point of view,
and developed a. "meteoric theory" to account for the generation and persistent radiation of solar heat and light. It is
not my design to invite attention to mere theories, nor to
devote time to their discussion; but, inasmuch as Dr. Mayer's
conception is among the grandest of speculations, and, as a
legitimate consequence of acknowledged principles, not wholly
imaginative, since the fall of meteoric stones and metals upon
our own planet does actually occur, an allusion to it is not
only just and proper, but also important, in order to set the
truth  deducible from  solid facts and positive causes in a
stronger light by the comparison of these facts and causes
with Dr. Mayer's assumptions, and through an inversion of
his reasoning.  This acute philosopher has founded his theory
and calculations of the causes of solar light and heat upon
two postulates: first, the common assumption that gravitation
is the ONLY active potential force in nature; and, secondly,
that the interplanetary spaces swarm  with solid meteoric
substances of various sizes, flying and revolving like comets
in all directions.  From these two hypotheses he derives his
third-that of incessant impact of foreign masses, which,
falling upon the solar surface, from infinite or variable distances, thus generate heat, the intensity of which is beyond
all calculation, and of course deprive the sun of any possibility of ever becoming a habitable body, or of developing its
own internal mechanical resources for any useful local purpose whatever.  The entire "meteoric doctrine" is fairly
embraced and presented in this syllogism. I cannot present
this "mechanical theory" of cosmical heat in its various
aspects more clearly, succinctly, and justly than by quoting
a passage from Professor Tyndall's reference to it, in his
twelfth  lecture  upon  " Heat considered  as a Mode of
Motion:"" It is easy to calculate both the maximum and the minimum velocity imparted by the sun's attraction to an asteroid
D D




402                FORCE AND NATURE
"circulating round him: the maximum is generated when the
"body approaches the sun from an infinite distance, the entire
"pull of the sun being then expended upon it; the minimum
"is that velocity which would barely enable the body to
"revolve round the sun close to his surface. The final velocity
"of the former, just before striking the sun, would be 390
" miles a second; that of the latter, 276 miles a second. The
"asteroid, on striking the sun with the former velocity, would
"develop more than 9,000 times the heat generated by the
"combustion of an equal asteroid of solid coal; while the
shock in the latter case would generate heat equal to that
"of the combustion of upwards of 4,000 such asteroids. It' matters not, therefore, whether the substances falling into
the sun be combustible or not; their being combustible
" would not add sensibly to the tremendous heat produced by
" their mechanical collision.
" Here, then, we have an agency competent to restore his
" lost energy to the sun, and to maintain a temperature at his
"surface which transcends all terrestrial combustion. The
" very quality of the solar rays-their incomparable penetra" tive power-enables us to infer that the temperature of their' origin must be enormous; but in the fall of asteroids we
" find the means of producing such a temperature. It may
"be contended that this showering down of matter must be
" accompanied by the growth of the sun in size: it is so, but
"the quantity necessary to produce the observed calorific
"emission, even if accumulated for 4,000 years, would defeat
" the scrutiny of our best instruments.  If the earth struck
"the sun, it would utterly vanish from perception; but the
"heat developed by its shock would cover the expenditure of
"the sun for a century.
" To the earth itself apply considerations similar to those
"which we have applied to the sun.  Newton's theory of
"gravitation, which enables us, from the present form of the
"earth, to deduce its original state of aggregation, reveals to
"us, at the same time, a source of heat powerful enough to
"bring about the fluid state-powerful enough to fuse even




CENTRAL FORCES.AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   403
" worlds.  It teaches us to regard the molten condition of a
"planet as resulting from the mechanical union of cosmical
"masses, and thus reduces to the same homogeneous process
"the heat stored up in the body of the earth and the heat
"emitted by the sun."
Professor William  Thomson and other physicists have
enlarged upon Dr. Mayer's assumptions, until they and the
entire scientific world have arrived at his conclusions.  Such
are Professor Thomson's views, in his own words: —"The
"source of energy from which solar heat is derived is un"doubtedly meteoric." *
Thus it is seen that the conclusions of Dr. Mayer, declared
by his followers after immense mathematical labour to be
UNQUESTIONABLE, result from three successive assumptions, the
only positive element in the equations being the secret magic
of numbers, the mechanism through which light springs out
of darkness: first, meteors (and these now further assumed to
be concentrated into an area less than the earth's orbit);
second, the influence of gravitation (assumed, also, to be the
only motive force in nature) upon these meteors; third, the
assumed imopact of these meteors, the continual "bombardment" of which upon the sun can be alone likened to the
incessant battering of hailstones upon the earth.
Offering no criticism upon this theory, and acknowledging
with respect the earnest desire for solid progress and the
eminent ability of its advocates, I nevertheless intrust it, like
all other mere speculations, to the searching consideration of
a coming epoch. Cherishing, however, so tender a veneration
for the great philosopher of Heilbronn as to make a journey
to his native town for the special purpose of offering him my
personal homage, I am sure of his pardon at least for applying
his own principles to positive data, in order to solve such vast
problems in a less hypothetical manner.
* I am informed, since this work has been in type, that the opinions of
Professor Thomson upon this point are undergoing some modification.
But the theory still prevails, and no other, to my knowledge, has been
substituted for it.
D D 2




404                FORCE AND VNATURE,
3.
In our chapter upon " Cosmical Repulsion" I presented a
mass of evidence drawn from every class of celestial bodies
absolutely conclusive of their internal molecular and mechanical agitation, and proving that this agitation, the motion
and friction, the action and reaction, of their collective particles upon each other, maintained definite relations to the
ellipticity of their orbits-that is to say, to the distances of
these bodies respectively from one another.  A recapitulation
of these voluminous facts is here unnecessary.  But, in regard
to comets, it will be remembered how striking were the internal agitations of these misty and translucent bodies as they
approached, passed, and receded from  their perihelia.  In
regard to the earth, it will be remembered how detailed were
our volcanic and seismic data, as rigorously numerical as the
analysis of so vast and various a body of facts would permit,
and yet so constant in the periodic differences of their total
intensities at perihelion and aphelion, as to demonstrate an
absolute oscillation of dynamic elements, and to establish
beyond question that these fluctuations of internal mechanical
energy depend, as a general law, upon similar physical agitations within the sun, the mutual actions and reactions of the
two bodies holding invariable inverse relations to the length
and sweep of the radius vector. These facts, as a body of
evidence bearing upon any physical problem, are indisputable
and of incalculable value.  While we docubt the continual bonmbardment of any celestial body from WITHOUT, and consider
such a phenomenon incapable of proof, we present such
evidences of INTERNAL " bombardments," general commotions,
collisions of molecules and volumes of matter from centre to
circumference of cosmic masses, even of the sun and stars, as
are sufficient upon known principles to explain clearly and
conclusively every problem  of cosmic motion, cosmic heat,
cosmic light, cosmic electricity, and cosmic magnetism, how



CENTiRv L FORCEWS AND CEILESTIAL PHYSICS.   405
ever palpable or delicate to our senses the form or manifestation of such phenomena may be.
4.
From  all which has been thus far discussed it follows,
that the central forces of the globe are never at rest. We
know, generally, the chemical constitution of the planet;
and we therefore know that the forces of attraction and repulsion, as dynamic entities and affirmative quantities, are
actively darting from molecule to molecule, combining with
and separating from  them, and generating vivid pulsations
thereby, which are convectively propagated and incessantly
multiplied into voluminous currents and massive irresistible
impulses, from centre to equator and from pole to pole.  In
order for the nmericcal element of intensity observable in
volcanic and seismic phenomena to vary periodically, and for
the maxima and minima of these intensities to be respectively
constant atperihelion and aphelion, we know that the energies engaged in developing such differences must also vary
in like proportional manner and degree. We know, moreover, since the total intensities of terrestrial magnetic force
are in like manner periodical, following the same general
laws which govern the expressions of seismic phenomena,
both in relation to space and time; since magnetic storms
are universal —that is to say, since abnormal agitations of the
magnetic needle are simultaneous throughout the planet's surface, on plains, at sea, in deep mines, and upon lofty mountains alike-and instantaneous; since magnetism, like heat,
depends for its existence upon antithetic propagations of repulsion and attraction, and upon the mutual collision and reaction
of molecules in virtue of such propagations; since heat itself;
by the impulses which its elements impart to cold or cooling
substances, is convertible into magnetism;-by these thermomagnetic facts, and many others which will occur to tho



406                FORCE AND NATURE.
roughly informed physicists, we may be sure that there can.
be no inertia or inactivity in matter; that a ceaseless friction
among molecules, an absolute molecular impact and reaction,
must certainly be a central and all-pervading phenomenon in
the earth, and therefore equally so in every other cosmic mass
moving in an elliptical path around larger bodies.  Here, then,
we discover the necessary and unavoidable causes of central
heat and cosmic fire; for I have already shown that absolute
intensest heat is nothing else than the violent conflict of attraction and repulsion, as opposing forces, in their incessant
struggle, under cosmic and universal pressure, to penetrate and
supplant each other in all forms of matter, and to throw
individual molecules into new  and evanescent conditions,
neither matter nor forces being consumed, lost, or findamentally changed in quantity or quality.
Hence, in applying further observations and the calculus to
this new branch of mechanical astronomy, we may be guided
by the general laws,-that all internal cosmic agitations, and
local or periodical intensities of physical phenomena, are, as
expressions or functions of mechanical energy, correlated
inversely with the lengths of the radii vectores of revolving
bodies; and that the degrees of ellipticity and of perturbation
in the orbits of cosmic bodies result from the actions and
reactions of the forces operating dynamically and reciprocally
within  the masses of connected  spheres, whether such
internal agitations be expressed externally and visibly, or
otherwise.
These are unquestionable deductions from what precedes.
And, so far as comets and Saturn's rings permit definite ocular
observation, the evidences presented by their internal and
external phenomena confirm these laws.  These remarkable
truths are furthermore confirmed by telescopic observations
upon the variable aspects of many other bodies.
Why comets and the earth condense with increasing energy
and activity as they approach perihelion, attraction between
their respective particles and centres becoming absolutely
more intense, so as to effect notable centralizations of matter,




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   407
and excite the most violent internal reactions, at perihelic
periods; and why, contrariwise, they relax this increased
gravitation simultaneously with their retrocessions from the
sun; and why they thus incessantly execute these mighty
oscillations, like so many cosmic pendulums swinging from
the centre of the solar orb, are pregnant and instructive
problems, the solution of which it is here irrelevant to
attempt, since the facts alone are the points which I wish to
present explicitly, and aside from discussion, as all-sufficient
causes and conditions for the development of cosmo-dynamic
phenomena of every grade and character.
5.
NFow, it is well established  that friction is
Friction and
Impact Equiva- equivalent to impact, as a cause or agent in the
lent Agents. generation of the secondary forces, heat, light,
electricity, and magnetism.
Linking this axiomatic truth with the cosmic facts immediately before introduced, it follows, that the amount of heat
steadily generated, and absolutely developed into momentary,
dynamic, and phenomenal results, by the friction-the mutual
gravitation and reaction; that is, the attraction and repulsionplaying between the vibrating molecules of the earth's mass
during its fall from aphelion to perihelion, must be equivalent to that which would be generated in gross by impact, if
the same mass of matter, divided into many parts, should
fall from  the same height and collide at perihelion.  The
wonderful interests involved in this problem are all more or
less capable of mathematical determination. Dr. Mayer, in
a searching essay upon "Celestial Dynamics," elaborated
in support of his meteoric theory, has subjected to severe
numerical analysis a problem somewhat similar to my illustration, and stated the thermic results. Professor Helmholtz
and other physicists have arrived at similar conclusions to




408                FO RCE AND NA TURE,
those of Mayer, upon one assumption or another, all tending
to the same point, of cosmic developments of heat by external
impact of gravitating masses. Modified in one way or another,
as the elements of the question may be assumed and treated
by different analysts, the general result may be stated in
terms similar to those reached by Dr. Mayer. And from
whatever point this mighty problem is viewed, the truth
elicited can only enlarge our considerations of the value of
Dr. Mayer's and Dr. Joule's labours upon the equivalency
and mutual convertibility of motion, heat, and mechanical
force, viewed in relation to the development of physical
phenomena, both in the earth and throughout the heavens.
The amount of cosmic heat, regarded as mechanical working power, generated by the central friction, to which I invite
special attention, will no doubt be hereafter ascertained with
great accuracy. Meantime, in order to stimulate inquiry, and
give those who have never examined this subject an approximate idea of its prodigious sum, I will cite the remarks of one
of the most learned specialists of our time upon this point, as
it has been heretofore analysed. Professor Tyndall, in the
course of his second lecture upon "Heat considered as a Mode
of Motion," says: "From these considerations, I think it is
" manifest that if we know the velocity and weight of any
" projectile, we can calculate with ease the amount of heat
"developed by the destruction of its moving force. For ex"ample, knowing, as we do, the weight of the earth, and the
"velocity with which it moves through space, a simple calcu" lation would enable us to determine the exact amount of heat
"which would be developed, supposing the earth to be stopped
"in her orbit. We could tell, for example, the number of
"degrees which this amount of heat would impart to a globe
"of water equal to the earth in size. Mayer and Helmholtz
have made this calculation, and found that the quantity
"generated by this colossal shock would be quite sufficient,
"not only to fuse the entire earth, but to reduce it, in great
part, to vapour.  Thus, by the simple stoppage of the earth' in its orbit, the elements might be caused to' melt with




CENIRAL FORCES AN]D CELESIAL - PHYSICS.   409
" fervent heat.' The amount of heat thus developed would
" be equal to that derived from the combustion of fourteen
"globes of coal, each equal to the earth in magnitude. And
"if, after the stoppage of its motion, the earth should fall
"into the sun, as it assuredly would, the amount of heat
"generated by the blow would be equal to that developed
"by the combustion of 5,600 worlds of solid carbon.
" Knowledge such as that," he continues, " which you now'possess has caused philosophers, in speculating on the mode
"in which the sun is nourished, and his supply of light and
" heat kept up, to suppose the heat and light to be caused
"by the showering down of meteoric matter upon the
sun's surface.  Some philosophers suppose the Zodiacal
Light to be a cloud of meteorites; and from it, it is imagined,
" the showering meteoric matter may be derived.  Now,
"whatever be the value of this speculation, it is to be borne
"in mind that the pouring down of meteoric matter in the
"way indicated would be competent to produce the light and
" heat of the sun. With regard to the probable truth or
"fallacy of the theory, it is not necessary that I should offer
"an opinion; I would only say that the theory deals with a
" cause which, if in sufficient operation, would be competent
to produce the effects ascribed to it."
Now it matters not where, how, or in what degree, collision
between molecules is accomplished.  Thermic results are
always in direct proportion to the radical forces operating
upon these molecules.  One thing, however, is perfectly selfevident: that the central heat and fires of our planet are
neither produced, nor sustained, by external impact of meteors.
There are, then, no other than interior conditions for the
generation of telluric heat.  We must, consequently, abandon
conjecture; and, submitting to the facts and evidence which
have been brought to bear upon this subject, accept the
conclusion that there must be sufficient agencies at work
within the globe to develop every form of phenomenon connected with its existence, motions, and internal and external
exhibitions of mechanical power. And since we now know




410                FORCE AND NATURE.
the laws which govern the universal relations of heat and
motion; and have determined that the periodicity and variable intensities of terrestrial dynamic phenomena depend inversely upon the length and sweep of the radius vector; the
sequences are, that central heat springs from central motion,
and that the molecular friction  effected throughout the
planet's mass in consequence of its progressive condensation
during the passage from  aphelion to  perihelion, and its
oscillating expansion during its return to aphelion (in like
manner as comets condense and expand), would generate
sufficient heat to reduce the globe to vapour and annihilate
its cohesion, were this heat not instantly converted into
mechanical power and employed in axial rotation, orbital
reaction, seismic agitations and eruptions, in crystallogenic,
magnetic, and electric functions, in tidal and aerial displacements, and in the infinitude of morphological processes
so continuously progressing upon the surface of the planet.
Thus the heat and other secondary forces of the globe
exhibit themselves as certainly dependent upon the varying
length of the radius vector, as does the ellipticity of its orbit
upon the mutual reactions of the central forces of both sun
and planet. These new forms of energy, thus acquired, being
absolute conversions of the crude chaotic entities of gravitation and repulsion into central dynamic, and external productive and material power, and thus holding reciprocal and
specific numerical relations to kindred conditions of force and
action in the sun (conditions of quantity, determined by the
immortal Newton); these new forms of energy thus acquired
and thus sustained, the planet actually and incessantly
develops its own resources of motion, heat, and mechanical
power, its forces and phenomena oscillating in strength and
function from aphelion to perihelion, and so continuing to the
end of time. If a quantum of these forces be employed upon
the surface in creative, organic, and mechanical work, it falls
back again into the terrestrial reservoir, only, however, to be
replaced with fresh relays from the same convective sources.
For force, possessing affinities for matter alone, and being in




CENTRAL FORCES S  ND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   411
virtue of its active nature the very antagonist of space as a
nonentity, necessarily "abhors vacuum," clings to matter, and
moves matter freely where and when the influences of greater
volumes of both united draw or repel the lesser volumes, in
order to effect union, segmentation, or elongation, and generally to execute the designs of their Creator.  Here we
catch a glimpse of the foundation of that speculative idea of
the ancient philosophers, expressed so tersely in the phrase,
"Nature abhors vacuum;" an idea the truth of which has
been questioned in the late developments of an exclusively
material philosophy, but which is as positively correct as the"
fact that matter and vacuum are the opposites of each other.
Indeed, were not space an eternally sterile and infinite vacuum,
which force and matter equally " abhor," the prodigious
velocity with which cosmic bodies of every class fly through
it would not only strip them of their gaseous envelopes, but
also raise the temperature of the latter to such a degree that
comets as mere gaseous bodies would vanish from the cosmos.
Thus it is (and in virtue of this very truth alone) that worlds
of all sorts could be, and have been, created; and that they
continue to exist and move; and that systems of worlds perpetuate their motions and complexities-all mutually influencing each other; kept apart, and yet bound together: so
that, knowing, as we do, that force is neither wasted nor lost,
it becomes absolutely certain that no violent throb takes place
in the sun, which does not in some way sensibly affect the
earth and other planets; and, moreover, that no violent commotion ever occurs within the boundaries of Sirius or any
other star, which is not responded to in some mechanical
manner by the central forces of the sun; in the same way,
indeed, that a pebble's fall into a lake will communicate palpable impulses all around its shores, or as an earthquake at
Japan or Hawaii will disturb the tidal wave not only along
the coast of California, but throughout the world.




412                FORCE JND NATURE.
6.
Certain objections will be raised at this point, by those
mathematical philosophers'who, assuming the position of mere
idealists, and undervaluing Newton's real scientific character
and aspirations, insist, because he demonstrated the numerical
laws of attraction, and did not therewith discuss the existence
of any other force or element of dynamic power, that consequently no other exists. Exclusively adhering to this doctrine,
they will urge that, in order to reduce the orbital element
and periodical phenomena of the heavenly bodies within the
range and explanation of the laws of "rational mechanics,"
these bodies must have received, individually and at first,
some impact or impulse in bulk or piecemeal, as an adequate
means of primitive momentum and motion, and that in consequence of this initiative momentum all interior action of their
own is rendered unnecessary, impossible, and inadmissible.
Inasmuch as these doctrines are entirely speculative, and
founded upon a priori assumptions, they are not valid objections to the results of any inductive inquiry, and must
therefore, vanish with the developments of positive physical
truth.  In passing from this question, I may, nevertheless, be
permitted to say, that any imaginary force, whatever its origin
and action, communicating the momentum assumed by mechanical astronomers, must have been opposite in its nature
and functions to that of attraction, and must have been consequently actual repulsion, or a mechanical power equivalent
to it, and (as we have already shown) its co-ordinate and
co-efficient everywhere. All similar objections may, therefore, be finally discarded, since they are based upon hypotheses the truth or error of which can alone be reached by
ascending steps, such as we have pursued from  molecules
and molecular forces, through experiment and observation,
and the severest inductive and exhaustive processes, into the
grandest developments of cosmic form and entity, and cosmic
action and reaction.




CENTIRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   413
7.
But another objection, growing also out of the historic
element of science, and equally based upon a grand and
authoritative hypothesis, will be raised against our conclusions,
notwithstanding their legitimate induction from indisputable
facts. It will be urged that if space be an infinite vacuumthat is to say, destitute of "a resisting medium," " attenuated
matter," "imponderable fluid," "pulsating ether," or some
other nameless substance upon which present optical theory
is built-there is no agency whereby the heavenly bodies can
propagate their radiant power, interchange their light, and
mutually influence each other.
I might simply reply that repulsion-an entity of whose
internal essence we know fully as much as we do of the
essence of gravitation-an entity as imponderable as attraction, and as positive in its activity and results-is that agency,
and there leave the question.  But this would be dogmatical
and unsatisfactory in a serious inquiry; and although a truth
as positive as it is abstract, it cannot be treated as an admitted
point, in the present state of knowledge, nor spoken of as
lightly as we speak of gravitation-a term in such common
use that physicists, astronomers, and mathematicians employ
it as mechanically and flippantly as gold-beaters handle gold,
without questioning its final nature, origin, alloy, or end.
On the contrary, I will meet this objection by experimental
facts and authentic observations, the positive and collateral
bearing of which, if not sufficiently potent to be immediately
destructive of "materialistic theories," must hold them  in
grave abeyance until further evidence and discussion shall
leave them among the splendid errors of the past.
While the cosmic forces of attraction and repulsion, reduced
into their manageable and measurable elements of electricity
and magnetism, are not only capable of generating, but are
moreover incapable of acting otherwise than to generate, both




414                 FORCE AND NDATURE.
heat and light it  connexion with molecules and the most
attenuated gases; while they manifest dynamic action and
reaction, and develop sensible mechanical phenomena, when
propagated in currents through molecules, however diffuse,
attenuate, and imponderable these may be rendered;-while
such are facts, it is proved by the latest and severest experimentation that electro-magnetic currents not only do not produce, but are also incapable of producing, the slightest sensible
mechanical or pulsating action in a vacuum.  At the same
time (as remarkable and suggestive as the point is true) this
vacuum  shows a capacity for transmitting the ELEMENTS of
heat and light directly through or across it, without obstruction
or absorption, or, so far as we yet know, permitting their conversion into these secondary forces. Hence, therefore, inasmuch as these secondaries are purely compound varieties of
two well-known radicals-that is, of attraction and repulsion
-and are generated only in connexion with molecules and
atomicities, it follows that the latter forces (the radicals) or
their influences may cross a vacuum, either binarily without
mutual interference, or singly without interruption, absorption, loss, or destruction in any way; the influences and
functions of these primal forces appearing to act in a creative
and mechanical manner only when in direct conjunction with
matter, and to develop dynamical and undulatory phenomena
only where molecules demonstrably and substantially exist.
This is what we might naturally suppose; but it appears to
be shown experimentally in the fact, that a thermometer, suspended in vacuo, exhibits sensibility-that is to say, expansion
and contraction-to varying external temperatures. We know
by countless observations that attraction, as abstract forcethat is to say, gravitation-extends its power through a
vacuum.  We now know that repulsion, viewed also as pure
abstract force, extends its special form of power in like
manner; for if molecular changes transpire in a thermometer
suspended in a vacuum, the forces bound up with those molecules must be influenced by the movements of similar forces
in matter outside of the vacuum (herein lies the secret of




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHISICS.   415
calorific developments), such forces acting insensibly through
the latter by their own subtle penetrative and expansive
energy-a principle or property too near the origin of things
to be comprehended otherwise than in physical results.
Now, if we may draw from these facts any inference whatever applicable to cosmical physics and optical discovery, and
if we may be permitted, in view of our preceding positions, to.
hold them up, like flambeaux, in both hands, and therewith
boldly explore not only our own limited system, but also the
remotest realms of space, and test, moreover, every physical
theory in the light thereof, we may legitimately conclude that
cosmic masses, charged to supersaturation (and even to selfdestruction in some cases) with conflicting forces, both of
which are actively and exhaustively employed in generating
the several internal, local, and relative motions of these
masses, maintaining their manifold internal and superficial
economies, and in perpetuating a general plan of self-conservation;-now, if we may draw  any inference whatever
from all which precedes, we are compelled to conclude that
the celestial masses are as vividly, strongly, and mutually
sensitive to the central activities of each other, though widely
separated, as if in actual contact. Through the perturbations,
and ceaseless approximations and elongations of the heavenly
bodies, and through the periodical fluctuations of the magnetic and electric functions of our own planet, we become
acquainted with the extreme sensitiveness of the entire system
of the cosmos'to the presence and reciprocal action of its
individual members.  By prolonged observations upon these
wondrous masses, and by the severe calculations of modern
mathematicians, it is established, that for more than two
thousand years, although there may have been fractional
changes in the forms or relations of the earth's or moon's orbits,.
the earth itself has not lost an iotc of force of any kind, unless
an equal quantity has been received, from day to day and hour
to hour, in the form of actual working energy; and it consequently follows that no other body in our system-not even
the sun itself-has suffered loss in the slightest degree,




416                FORCE AIVD VNATURE.
Such being a grand, final fact, the conclusion is positive that
no member of the solar system  (whatever the internal agitations and local revolutions to which it is subjected in virtue
of its connexion with all the rest) can ever radiate and
throw away into space any of the mechanical energy with
which it was endowed in the beginning, neither in the form
of heat, light, magnetism, electricity, nor of pure elemental
force.  If, in the course of their mutual physical transactions,
either of these bodies has radiated any of its mechanical
power, the  same  quantum   must not only  have  been
instantly and directly absorbed by all the rest, but all the
rest must also have contributed definite and proportional
sums to restore as instantly and directly the first displacement.  Should this sequence be viewed by any physicist, for
a single moment, as an absurdity or impossibility, he must be
reduced to view every hypothesis as a still greater one, which
declares heat and light to be radiated into and extinguished in
space, or diffused and wasted, as undulatory and mechanical
energy, through an infinite field of attenuated ether.  Consequently, it may be declared impossible, as an inductive
truth, for force of any kind to be in any degree diffused so as
to be unemployed or inefficient in the interstellar spaces; and
this is rendered the more positive, since the general equilibrium of our own system is absolutely undisturbed from age
to age, and from cycle to cycle.  Even if evidences of countless cosmographic changes exist (as observed wherever we
look in our planet, or seen by telescopic aid throughout the
heavens-as in the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, the asteroids,
Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun, in the blazing star of Corona Borealis,
and in distant constellations), we have reason to conclude,
from positive knowledge of the functions and laws of quantity
and action of the mechanical forces in and upon our own
planet, that every cosmical change and cataclysmal revolution
elsewhere has been connected with some progressive plan and
ascending order of special and local morphological development,
mapped out in the beginning by the Creator of all things.
MAoreover, finally, we know that heat and light are only the




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   417
local jarring of molecules upon the surface or throughout the
interior of any mass of matter; that they are varying series
of vibrations, effected by the incessant absorption and rejection, or momentary action and reaction, of attraction and
repulsion, as these forces dart swiftly and by convective processes from the circumference to the centre of such bodies,
and conversely; and that they are phenomena appearing anywhere and everywhere in direct response to, and reciprocity
with, molecular and cosmic laws of quantity direct and distances inverse.
Considering these facts established, and our preceding steps
beyond contradiction, we may safely conclude that globes of
molecules, viewed comprehensively as vast heterogeneous
masses of chemical elements, metals, gases, and compounds,
so constituted  and  combined  as to require, absorb, and
inalienably hold the entire sum of potential and phenomenal
energy which has been created; viewed as masses absolutely
replete with  repulsive, as well as with  attractive  force,
mutually sensitive to each other's being at all distances under
Newton's laws, flying through an infinite vacuum in definite,
yet multiform, orbits, the elements of which are determined
by the condensative and expansive energies inherent in their
respective constitutions, and eternally oscillating, both intern     nally and externally, as centripetal and centrifugal functions;
-thus viewed, we may safely conclude that cosmic masses will
and must move, act, and react in their dynamic relations.
while sweeping through space and rolling around each other,
as if in actual collision, or at least in elastic connexion and
intercommunication; and that, in virtue of these reciprocal
reactions of their central forces, they will and must develop
internally, superficially, remotely, and universally, both the
zmolecular vibrations, and every form  of SECONDARY FORCE
consequent thereupon, which are observable and measurable
in any member of the cosmos.  That these very internal
and excentral undulatory phenomena do, in some occult
way, extend and perpetuate their influences reciprocally
upon each other, without coincident loss of working power
EE




418                FORCE ANDJ NATURE.
in any body or any system  of bodies by radiation, is very
certain; and if the light and heat observable upon the surface, or traceable to the interior, of any of them, seemn to be
connected with radiations from foreign bodies, such phenomena
must nevertheless depend upon the local action and reaction
of molecules, at the points where the light and heat appear,
and cannot be produced by direct impingements of heat and
light per se, originally emitted from foreign bodies, and propagated as such by undulations, through a pulsating ether, to the
object heated or illuminated. All this I know to be the rankest
heresy.  But in virtue of evidence derivable from the phenomena developed in comets by their intercosmic reactions (to say
nothing of seismic data) we must finally conclude that repulsion is an active function in every form of dynamic energy,
displaying itself in all those reactions which are observable
not only in molecules and in experimental physics, but also
throughout those globes of molecules called planets and suns.
And thus it is, when excited by gravitation into antithetic
waves and equatorial and lateral currents of local action,
inducing molecular vibrations, that replulsion, the co-ordinate
and ever-present antagonist of gravitation, transforms itself
into palpable and measurable sums of luminous, thermic,
electric, and magnetic force, and blossoms into. the grand
mechanical, phenomenal, and creative energy of the universe.
Even if the statement be wholly true that certain cosmic
bodies, as the planets and their satellites, shine only by that
form of light termed " reflected light," it by no means follows
that their respective internal forces do not act as phenomenal
agents in the manner indicated, and thus develop mechanical
effects not visible in a luminous, but manifested to us in some
other manner.  For these same radical forces are convertible
into motion, heat, magnetism, electricity, and chemical changes,
as well as into local light. And if we consider the moon
alone, the most intractable member of our system, there are
legitimate and weighty reasons, derivable from known lunar
influences upon the vegetable growths, the nervous life, and
the magnetic, seismic, and tidal phenomena of this planet,




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSIC S.   419
to infer that the activity of the lunar forces must not only be
positive internal quantities, but also very potent external
ones. Moreover, data exist at present wherefrom to infer that
the light of cosmic bodies depends upon the mechanical or
chemical combinations of certain gaseous and metallic molecules in their envelopes, which conditions are essential (as in
stellar photospheres and in comets) to the development of
direct light." The absence of these conditions would end
in darkness, while magnetism, motion, and all other mechanical
effects of the conflicts of attraction and repulsion would still
exist.  I suggest these facts and inferences in the present
connexion because they are important both to meet objections
which may arise in the minds of many learned men, and to
excite more active inquiry upon points which have not yet
been reduced to exact knowledge. I advance no theory. I state
facts and draw inferences; and leave the development of the
subject to future observation, experiment, and discussion.
However widely this doctrine may differ from  accepted
theories, however unacceptable it may be to physicists in
general, there is sufficient weight in the facts we possess not
only to cast the gravest doubts upon all " ethereal hypotheses,"
but to compel us into new channels of thought, experiment,
and observation. There can be no further question upon the
point, that mechanical force, as a compound product of
attraction and repulsion, acts and reacts directly from  the
centres of all cosmic bodies upon the centres of all other
bodies, and then again from the centres to the surfaces, and
through the envelopes of these bodies individually, and vice
versd; the earth, for instance, responding to lunar and solar
influences in movements of the magnetic and electric force,
only because the entire mass of the planet is excited and
agitated by the molecular movements occurring in the entire
mass of the moon and sun. The observations and studies of
Schwabe, Gauss, Lamont, Sabine, Carrington, and others have
proved this to be a general truth. The philosophical development of the subject remains for that grand generalization of,cosmical physics which is sooner or later to gild the chamb.er6.
EE2




420                FORCE AND NATURE.
of science with the radiance of its imposing glory.  Here.
therefore, I leave the last and most serious objection which
might be urged against the application of dynamic laws, discovered in our studies of the earth, to the developments of
the mechanics and general physics of the heavens.
8.
Now, when we attempt to ascend from the known to the
unknown, in order if possible to acquaint ourselves with the
operation of forces inherent in foreign globes of every class,
the elements, combinations, quantities, distances, and motions
of which are more or less measurable or observable, we shall
find the steps legitimate and the results certain.  In view of
present positive knowledge, I would not declare, simply
because the earth's interior may be proved to be incandescent,
that therefore the planet was originally formed by successive
accretions and impact of falling "meteors," as the only way
of generating its central heat; and, ascending from this
hypothesis, announce dogmatically that the sun was formed,
and  that solar heat and  light are  " undoubtedly" still
generated, in  the  same manner; and  therefrom  further
compel the mathematics into the humiliating attitude of
declaring, that in process of time these meteoric bombardments must cease for lack of ammunition, that the heat and
light of the sun must be extinguished, the solar system
become dark, terrestrial life perish, all nature congeal, one
star after another vanish, the universe collapse, and the
sublime conceptions of the Infinite and Eternal Consciousness
utterly fail in final wisdom and beneficence. On the contrary,
rejecting all hypotheses, I would stand upon facts alone: and
now, comprehending the dynamical action of attraction and
repulsion as abstract yet living entities, and the laws which
govern their relations with molecules, and with the chemical
elements everywhere; knowing their mutual action and



CENTRLI FORCES AND CELESTIAL PIYSICS.   421
reaction, and the phenomena generated thereby, in our own
planet, as cosmic facts, we may " ascend up into heaven,"
as if with " the wings of the morning," sure of the " hand "
which leads, and of the "right hand " which holds, and that
"' even night shall be light about" us.  We shall, indeed, find
the physical phenomena observable throughout the distant
realms of space subject to the action of the same laws,
generated by analogous causes, and coincident with similar
facts and conditions existing and operating in our own.
planet,
9.
I have already alluded to the important observations of
Lamont, Schwabe, Wolf; and Sabine, in regard to the physical
and numerical connexion of the solar spots with the periodicities of telluric agitation; in other words, to the coincidence
of the reactionary and dynamic movements of solar force
and solar matter with the dynamic movements of terrestrial
magnetic force and terrestrial matter. Admitting this direct
and palpable physical relation of these two cosmic masses (a
fact which no physicist will now  venture to dispute), the
diurnal and annual variations of magnetic intensity-even
transient anomalies of electric and magnetic phenomena
coincident with earthquakes and volcanic disturbances-all
point directly to the fact, that vast convective movements
are continually taking place in the chemical constituents,
metals, gases, and compounds, of the central orb.  The
discussions of Mr. Carrington's observations upon the solar
spots, recently published  by the physicists of'the Kew
Observatory, Messrs. Delarue, Stewart, and Loewy, also show
the vast mechanical movements of solar matter which occur
in connexion with the fluctuating heliocentric longitudes and,
distances of Jupiter and Venus.  Observations like these
leave no longer any doubt of direct and mutual reactionary
relations between the internal matter and central forces of




422                FORCE lAND YNA4TURE
the sun and the internal matter and central forces of the
planets which revolve around him,
Scientific men are sufficiently familiar with the violent
central agitations and reactionary phenomena generated in
comets when approaching the sun from  all directions, and
moving through perihelia at diverse distances, and in every
degree of heliocentric latitude and longitude. These cometary
phenomena, viewed as direct responses to similar dynamic
movements and molecular agitations, incessantly active within
the solar mass, are lucid and cogent facts, the bearing of which
upon the problem now undergoing solution must not be overlooked. While this reciprocity of connexion with reactions of
the solar matter cannot be directly proved, it can be proved
indirectly with a weight equivalent to that of positive demonstration. For I have already shown the identity of phenomena
generated constantly within the circumference of all comets
and annually within the circumference of the earth, as these
bodies move through their respective perihelia: and since we
can prove reactionary connexions between the interior of the
earth and the interior of the sun, it irrefragably follows, that
the agency which causes central reactions in our planet is
identical with that which excites the interior motions of
cometary bodies.  And inasmuch as all observations and
computations show that solar forces are the agents which
control the molecular forces of every cosmic mass moving
around the central orb, the conclusion is irresistible that the
motions, both internal and general, of all comets are correlated
with and dependent upon translations of force, and consequently translations or vibrations of matter, within the
solar mass. Of the degree of this internal solar action and
reaction we are at present ignorant: but we now know, as a
grand induction from Rumford's and Mayer's discoveries, that
molecular friction can nowhere take place without the generation of specific quantities of heat; and that, therefore, any
motion of matter within the solar circumference must be
equivalent in thermic effects to the impact of a limited bulk
of that meteoric hail imagined by Dr. Mayer and insisted




CNNTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   423
by Sir William Thomson to be the "undoubted" cause of
the sun's heat and light.  Thus a true and legitimate internal
cause is established, and substituted for an imaginary and
improbable exterlnct one.
In addition to the general inductive bearing of this class of
facts upon the subject in question, there is a series of visible
phenomena, the value of which is of the utmost importance
in every inquiry upon the conversion of solar mechanical
energy into solar heat and light.  Sir William  Herschel
Schwabe, Wolf, and other distinguished telescopists, and even
I, a casual observer from several different points upon the
earth's surface, have noticed that not only the spots, but also
the fculfe and the general cloud-like involutions, termed by
various observers " shallows," and the "wavy," "mottled," and
" willow-leaf" appearances of the photosphere, are undergoing
frequent and more or less constant changes, and fluctuations of
light and shadow, all indicating alternate periods of intense
agitation and marked comparative quiescence. When the vast
area of many solar spots and groups of spots is considered;
when the rapid manner in which the photosphere breaks up,
rolls over, divides, and coalesces, like clouds of vapour, snow,
and smoke, in order to form, change, and obliterate these
ragged chasms, is further estimated; and when the mind of
the philosopher is fixed exclusively and comprehensively upon
this class of phenomena, uninfluenced by theoretical prepossessions, the fact becomes palpable that all these physical
disturbances are the result of the convective action and
reaction of attractive and repulsive forces upon the solar
elements-a mere counterpart, indeed, of the action of analogous forces within our own globe and in its envelopes.
All these solar mutations are but so many phenomena of
molecular collision and friction, of absolute impact of vast
volumes of matter, the mechanical equivalent and positive
product of which are light, heat, &c., whether the clashing
elements be iron, magnesium, sodium, nickel, zinc, or any
other substance discovered in the sun by Professor Kirchhoff
and whether they be in a solid or gaseous state.




424                FORCE  NI) NA TURE.
Superadded to this conspicuous and convincing evidence of
dynamic reactions within the solar globe, I will now present
those interesting series of telluric facts collated and classified
during many years, independently of each other and for
different purposes, by Professor Perrey, Messrs. R. and J. W.
Mallet, and myself. As they have been discussed at length
in a preceding chapter, in order there to establish the existence of repulsion, as a cosmic entity pregnant with powers
and consequences co-ordinate with those of gravitation, they
need only to be recalled in this connexion to give a wider
importance than they have heretofore signified.
The connexion of earthquakes and volcanic phenomena
with magnetic disturbances, announced some years since by
Dr. Kreil, of Austria, has been clearly established by many
subsequent observations in various parts of the globe.  The
further connexion of these two classes of dynamic phenomena
with the solar spots has been more recently asserted, and
partially proved upon discussions of numerous data, by Dr.
Kluge, of Saxony.  The laborious observations and discussions of Lamont upon the variations of intensity in the
magnetic and electric elements; those of Wolf and Schwabe
on the numbers, intensities, and variations of the solar spots,
during the same long period; and the coincidences of periodic
variations of intensity between these terrestrial and solar
phenomena, established by the discussions of Sabine, are not
only well known and acknowledged, but they are confirmed
by continued observations to be connected with some hidden
intercosmo-dynamic law.
Now, the constant concurrence in space and in time of the
maxilma and minima quantities of the annual variations of
magnetic intensity, of barometric phenomena, and of telluric
reactions, as exhibited in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
-that is to say the constant dependence of total intensities,
greatest and least, of these several classes of physical phenomuena upon the planet's perihelic and aphelic positions (concurrent and periodic variations adjusted to the earth's eccentric
circumsolar motions), each class following a law of quantity




CENTRAI FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   425.inversely proportional to the length of the radius vector;now, this variety of association of dynamic constants proves
more than the simple local fact, that oscillations of mechanical
force-i. e. gravitation and repulsion- exist between the centre
of the earth and its own atmosphere.  Inasmuch as the
numerical proportions of quantity and intensity observable in
these phenomena hold fixed relations in all their aspects and
variations, diurnal and mensual, indeed, as well as annual, to
the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, their variety and association appear to be connected with some profound solar
mechanical excitation. They point to a physical union, of a
fluctuating character, between the centre of the earth (and,
consequently, of all other revolving bodies) and the centre of
the sun, and lead to the demonstration of a universal intercosmic law.  They indicate, even, that some working and
more creative power, some grander function, is actively
immanent within their respective centres than mere quantitative mathematical sympathy-an unknown undefined something, termed gravitation-which only so influences them
somehow in bulk as to leave them, as chemical masses, still.
inert and mutually unresponsive to each other's internal
forces.  They demonstrate, in  fine, that a palpable and
measurable  connexion really exists between the sums of
mechanical force inherent as working powers in these bodies
respectively; and that the systems of attractive and repulsive
currents which maintain their individual central activities,
thereby developing solar and planetary heat, light, electricity,
magnetism, and general dynamic and eruptive phenomena,
are the same which, being exactly meted and adjusted to each
in their sums and qualities of matter, establish and maintain
their mutual external relations to one another, and general
orbital distances asunder.
That this induction may be clearly comprehended, I may
here remark that these intercosmic influences are not such
as are taught by those professors of physical astronomy who
liken the motions of the heavenly bodies to the projection
and gravitation of cannon-balls, but such as are conspicuous




426                FORCE AND NA ITURE.
in all great comets when they pass perihelion, and which
were visible in Biela's comet immediately and for a long time
after it divided, and whenever its segments have been subsequently near enough to the earth for definite observation.
The sun being so vast a body, so much larger than all the
other members of our system combined; and the latter differing in their masses, heliocentric distances, densities, absolute
weights, elemental constitutions, and in the ellipticity and
eccentricities of their respective orbits; it follows that the
internal solar forces must be constantly fluctuating, and
necessarily transporting the molecules constituting the solar
mass by multifarious convective impulses in every radial
direction.
There exist laws which are fundamental, positive, unchangeable, and eternal-not simply because so proved by
the calculus, but for the all-sufficient reason that they are
universal, and embody the presence of an infinite, absolute, and
transcendental principle, which addresses itself alone to the
highest human consciousness: this is one of them. Not only
the solar system, but the entire system of nature also, is built
thereupon; and it becomes self-evident, because facts of every
class harmonize with it.  Geometry and the algebras being,
as I hold, the bases, the essences, and the mental expressions
of this infinite principle, they are likewise its final abstract
judges, and must, sooner or later, confirm  that which is
physically and metaphysically true.
10.
When, therefore, we consider the facts clearly within our
knowledge and inductive reach, and apply the calculus to
develop their elements of power and quantity, we shall find
sufficient agencies at work within the solar sphere to generate
its heat and light, without resorting to meteoric and speculative causes, the truth or error of whose existence it must be




CENTRIAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   427
utterly impossible for human art to ascertain, and the probability of which, indeed, is so strongly refuted by the calculus
itself as to reduce the assumption to absurdity. Rejecting all
hypotheses, we now discover, in view of our preceding studies,
incessant causes, which, mathematically developed upon the
principles enunciated by Dr. Mayer himself (principles which
have been elaborated and confirmed conclusively in manifold
ways by Dr. Joule, and which are now accepted by every
class of scholars as decisively as the laws of gravitation), will
be sufficient to account for the origin and continuance of
solar heat and light. When the reactionary impulses of the
interior of the solar mass are regarded as results of momentaneous transmissions and transformations of mechanical
energy-of swift and incessant antithetic movements and
conversions  of gravitation  and repulsion into molecular
motion-of forces acting and reacting from its centre to its
outermost gaseous boundary in immense waves and eruptive
agitations, as analogous forces act and react in our own globe,
and in all comets, and in Saturn's rings;-when the action of
the solar forces and the mechanism of solar phenomena are
thus regarded, we may definitely comprehend the origin of
that wondrous sum of heat and light, the unfailing sources of
which cannot be explained upon the existence of gravitation
alone, nor upon the prevailing theory of celestial dynamics.
When, furthermore, we recognise the fact that the variable
heliocentric distances, not only of Venus, the Earth, and
Jupiter, but also of all the other planets and their satellites,
and of every body which approaches and moves around our
central orb, are from instant to instant dependent upon the
reactionary movements continually and complexly transpiring
within that orb, as well as upon their individual reciprocities
of molecular agitation, we shall discover therein still more
extended causes for those mechanical excitations which end
in the development of solar heat and light.
But it is when these principles are extended into their
broadest cosmic applications and possibilities that we begin
to comprehend the real magnitude of our inquiry, and the




428                FORCE ANJD NATURE.
important consequences of our philosophy. For while insignificant storms in the solar photosphere, so visible in its
spots, may indicate the approach and play the part of outposts to the flitting passage through space of a few clinging
worlds, the flaming splendour of the entire orb reveals the
formidable energies of its interior functions, and demonstrates
the ceaseless activity of its molecular forces, as their pulsations, swelling into stellar strength, respond to the throbs of
other suns, and thereby assist in sustaining those chemical
mutations and that fluctuating  instability of equilibrium
upon which the dynamics of the heavens, the central heat of
planets, the light of comets, and even life, death, generation,
and organic and physical changes of every class upon the
surface of our own globe, depend.
In this wondrous internal economy of the starry hosts, we
now not only discover the mechanism whereby their external
relations with each other have been established and continued,
but also descry the inexhaustible sources of the light, heat,
magnetism, and electricity of the cosmos, and arrive at the
fountain-head of all mechanical energy. Philosophical inquiry
of every kind may hereafter be conducted with more positive
aims; and the physical and natural sciences, vivified by a
new principle, may go forth in search of intellectual conquests
as much greater than those we now possess as our present
acquirements transcend those of the mediaeval ages.
11.
Emissions of    The manner in which, and the means whereby,
Heat and Light. the heat and light, so persistently generated in the
solar orb by the mechanical processes above discussed, are
communicated to the earth and other bodies, appear as obscure
as those which promote or permit intercommunication and
sympathy between their respective attractive and repulsive
forces, and which bind all worlds to a common centre. When




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   429the final conditions of either of these phenomena shall have
been discovered, those of the other without doubt will be
also; because they are inseparably connected and dependent
one upon the other. Great questions spring up at this point,
not to be so easily or quickly decided under existing theories.
But experiment and induction assisting, we are compelled to
conclude, in the light of present facts and knowledge (however
theories may conflict), that, space being vacuum, the action
and effects of space are nil; that distance and motion, as
components of time, lay the foundations of law upon this
subject; that matter is essentially necessary to the generation
and exhibition of every secondary force; and that no force of
any sort whatever is wasted in, or can be radiated into,
space in such a way as to be absorbed only at haphazard by
bodies scattered in confusion throughout an immensity which
is replete with intelligence and yet (an inconceivable paradox!) devoid of economy.  We now know too much about
the fixity of elementary bodies, the natures and quantities of
the molecular forces, and the correlations, equivalencies,
transformations, and conservation of all forms of energy, to
admit longer any such fallacy.
All this has been heretofore passed sufficiently in review;
and the requisite knowledge is yet lacking by which the
question can be definitively settled. The entire subject is
therefore open to doubts, and discussions. The simple fact
that time is necessary for the light of distant worlds to be
recognised by the mind does not conflict with our deductions:
since the numerical laws of light spring from those of gravitation and repulsion; and since the perturbations of the latter
must affect the former. The animal senses are subordinated
to both; and, so far as succession in the order of facts can
strengthen argument, light, as a reactionary phenomenon,
follows the dynamic conflicts of attraction and repulsion,
viewed as radical forces propagated through molecules, and
our senses become a tertiary condition, so to speak, in the
order both of facts and of time.




430                FORCE AND NATURE,
12.
Cosmic Light    Another subject, however, to  which special
Cosmic Light
and the Frauen- investigation may be directed from new points of
hofer lines. view (a subject relating to the action of mechanical
forces exclusively within the solar mass, and involving the
generation of phenomena of great magnitude as successive
and correlative sequences of one another, among which is the
one just named), is the manner in which the photosphere is
kindled into such dazzling splendour as to be conspicuous
through immense breadths of space.
In opening the treatment of this branch of my subject, I
am  aware that I shall be immediately met by objections
founded upon existing theories of celestial dynamics and of
spectral philosophy.  When I deny that the data we possess
are sufficient to prove beyond doubt that the sun is an uninhabitable body, and that it is a flcming globe of iron,
sodium, &c., the advocates of prevailing doctrines will declare
that the sodium and iron flames observable in our experiments, taken together with Professor Kirchhoff's explanation
of the Frauenhofer lines, are abundant and satisfactory
evidences upon these points, and ought to set the entire
subject at rest.  Now this hypothesis is founded on bases
similar to those upon which its parent, the meteoric theory
of solar heat, is founded: and it may be safely asserted that,
if one is inaccurate, the other is also in all its details, for the
reason that the experimental study and the mathematical
discussion of both series of data have determined that the
laws governing the relations and phenomena of heat and
light are identical, and as positively interwoven with each
other as those which govern the relations and phenomena of
electricity and magnetism. From  this point of view it will
be immediately seen that if only one half of the light generated in the solar orb is emitted, and the other half absorbed
by the metallic vapours alleged to exist in its photosphere,




CEVNTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   431
so only one half of the heat generated by the sun can be
emitted.  Therefore all preceding calculations upon this
point must be wrong, and the amount of heat actually
generated in the sun must be twice as great as heretofore
stated under any assumption.
My respect for the immortal philosophers who have been
the discoverers and pioneers in these fields of investigation,
from Newton and Descartes to Kirchhoff and Huggins, and
whose very hypotheses exhibit not only their great learning
but their penetrating and masterly genius; without the expression of which, indeed, their successors could not take a
single step either in extending or elucidating this department
of physics-my great respect for all this class of philosophers
compels me to allude to the doctrines which now prevail.
And in referring particularly to the theory in question, I do
so not so much for the purpose of attacking it by a lengthy
discussion, but rather in order to set in bold relief the
foundations upon which it rests, to open new avenues of
inquiry, into which the data already acquired may be more
profitably directed, and to meet the objections to my own
interpretations of the phenomena the intercosmic connexions
of which are now so well observed and so fully admitted.
Nothing was positively known of the chemical constitution
of the sun until the remarkable discovery of Kirchhoff and
Bunsen: and it may be truly stated that the actual mechanism
by which the illuminating and heating effects of solar action
have been communicated to the earth has always been, and
is still, involved in obscurity and doubt. But the elements
upon which rests the prevailing theory of the physical structure of the sun and the emission of solar heat and light may
be fairly stated in the following syllogistic terms: and I will
premise that, while not questioning the facts, I dissent from
the conjectures and reject the inferences involved in the
deductions therefrom.
The foundations upon which the entire theory rests are,
when reduced to their simplest terms, the two following
propositions.




432                 FORCE AND NATURE.
The  vapours of the several metals, iron, sodium, &c.,
exhibit, when these metals are burnt in the earth's atmosphere, certain bright lines in the spectra of their light which
correspond to certain dark ones in the solar spectrum.
" Kirchhoff found that a sodium flame which gives out on
"its own account the double line D  absorbs a ray of the
"same refrangibility when it is given out by a body of a
"higher temperature than the sodium  flame, thus producing
"a dark line D  instead of a bright one; and he therefore
" CONJECTURED  that the dark  line D in the light of our
"luminary was occasioned by the presence of the vapour of
" sodium in the solar atmosphere, and at a LOWER TEMPERA" TURE than the source of light."
Hence (all now say) the sun is " a globe of the fiercest fire,
"compared to which a mass of white hot iron is as cold as ice,"
a molten globe hot enough to hold even iron itself in a
permanent state of extreme gaseous subdivision, and to lift
and float its sublimated particles high in the solar atmosphere, and there maintain them  as incandescent metallic
vapour.
Such is the opinion of the most learned men at present
living; and it is even declared that the probabilities are
300,000,000tin favour to 1 against the truth of this hypothesis.
Thus it is believed that our sun both heats and illuminates
the earth (and even Neptune) by direct emissions of rays of
heat and light per se, as absolute entities, in consequence of'
the intense ignition of the various metals and gases which
constitute its mass and photosphere.
In stating the substance of the prevailing theory (as well
the facts and conjectures as the conclusions), I have partly
availed myself of the language of the most recent writers
upon astronomy and physics, in order to show the influence
which theories exercise upon the judgment of any, even the
most enlightened, period, before new facts of an astonishing
and exciting character have received their fullest developments.  When several theories, thus equally unmatured, are
linked together, and the mind is possessed by them, other




CENTRAL FORCES AND  CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   433
doctrines when first presented to us seem absurd, and the
attempts to interpret phenomena in a different way from that
of their discoverers and of their disciples appear not only
objectionable, but revolutionary and offensive. The truth,
however, is what science demands above all preconceptions;
and while aware again of the magnitude of the heresy involved
in the rejection of a theory where the probabilities, mathematically considered, are so many millions in its favour to
one against it, I am nevertheless assured that the subject is
of so much importance that the form  of treatment which
I bestow  upon it will receive a just consideration, even
if the explanations presented do not obtain an immediate
acceptance.
There are two general conditions of space, besides that of
its vacuum, which enter into our discussions of the premises.
These relate to the temperature and to the luminosity of space,
abstractly considered.
First: I hold that, upon known principles, it cannot be
assumed that the cold of space would ever be at a higher
degree than the lowest ever observed upon the surface of our
globe. "As to the proper temperature of the spaces at present
" around us," says Nichol, " our determinations greatly differ.
"Mr. Hopkins has recently adopted -38'5~ C.; Fourier
"estimated it at - 50~ C.; while, according to Pouillet, it is
"as low as -142~ C. It cannot be doubted that Captain Back
"found the thermometer at Fort Reliance down at -56'7~, and
"colds of -60~, -66~, and -70~ have been reached in Siberia.
"The accurate determination cannot be said to have yet been
"attained; but the estimate of Mr. Hopkins seems the pre"ferable one."  This is the highest, that is to say the softest,.
degree of the permanent cold of space made out by physicists
after taking every circumstance or theory of stellar radiation
into their calculations. Thus it will be seen that the rays
of solar heat are supposed to come in pulsating waves through
the mean distance of 90,000,000 miles of this intense cold
before they impinge upon our planet, and bestow on us what
remains of their thermic power. The h;gh degree of temperaF F




434                FORCE AND NATURE.
ture prevailing at midsummer and in tropical latitudes we
know: but upon these points I shall make no remarks in
this connexion.  I simply record the facts here.  Their
relative and absolute values will be more clearly perceived as
our subject is unfolded.
Second: In regard to the luminosity of space, abstractly
considered, little need be said; since observation and all
experimental and inductive data not only indicate it to be
a state of permanent and absolute darkness, but also establish
the facts that no light exists or can be generated anywhere.
independently of the union and direct interaction of molecules and their respective forces.
These points are beyond question.  The only theoretical'
point even, however remote its bearing, which could be:
insisted upon to conflict with these conclusions is that which
has been conjectured to arise from the retardation of Encke's
comet; but, inasmuch as this stands alone in the entire
realm of cosmical nature, it may be safely set aside and be
allowed to vanish, since I have already shown the existence
in all bodies of a repulsive principle which may operate in
such a way as to produce the effects observed in the motion
of that body.
I have already shown that heat and electricity, as secondary
forces, are derived from the interaction of molecules charged
to saturation with the radical ones of attraction and repulsion-the former of these last elements, as a whole, constituting cosmic attraction, and the latter cosmic repulsion 
and I have indicated the manner in which these, as the
central forces of the heavenly bodies, act throughout the
masses of these bodies to generate the general conditions
of cosmic electricity and magnetism, and of cosmic heat, as
local phenomena affecting these bodies respectively, and adhering to them  individually as their fixed and unchangeable
quanta of dynamic and productive energy.
Now we know that the laws affecting the phenomena of
heat are the same in all mathematical and quantitative
respects as those observable in the phenomena of light, even




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   435
to those of polarization; and we have no data upon which to
reason or conclude that light is generated by other forces or in
other ways, than by those forces and in those ways through
which heat is developed.  Moreover, as far as induction from
experimentation and analogies can be fairly adduced to prove
any condition of things so distant as to be beyond direct
personal examination, it may be affirmed, without a fact to
indicate the contrary, that no electric currents, or any other
form of force, can generate light in a vacuum, and independently of the positive presence of matter at that point where
light appears.
Such are some of the conditions which surround the theories
of the constitution of the sun and stars, of the origin and
action of cosmic light, and of the Frauenhofer lines (the
general theory of optics) which now prevail, and from which
I find reasons to dissent.
Disregarding the assumptions of authors, and admitting all
facts, I shall endeavour to interpret the latter in exact accordance with the laws and principles now well established by
observation, and by experimental and mathematical researches.
The simple point or picture presented for analysis is this.
In the midst of general darkness the sun appears to us as
a globe of dazzling molecules. While this cannot be otherwise in virtue of the fact that space is nil, the question is,.
whether this solar light which acts dynamically upon the
earth and eye, and thus generates terrestrial light, is actually
emitted by the sun so as to be darted through space as a
luminous impulse; or whether it acts directly upon the
matter of our atmosphere, thus exciting luminiferous reactions
within the gaseous and metallic elements and compounds of
our planet, independently of luminous impulses, as such,
generated in and apparently emitted by the sun.
I hold to the latter view, in virtue of experimental data,
and of a law  similar to that which Kirchhoff discovered,
relative to the equivalency of the force absorbed to that
emitted from the sources of light.
Even in view  of Mayer's and Joule's discoveries and
FF2




436                FORCE AND NJ4TURE.
mathematical determinations, and of all which precedes, it
may be shown, if molecular laws of a dynamical character
can be traced into their cosmic cognates, and vice versa, in
respect to one form of secondary force, that all other forms of
force which are both equivalent and correlated to this, in
their origin, action, and effects, and which are incessantly
convertible into one another and into this, will be traceable
also into the same cosmical conditions, and vice versa. When
one series of cosmo-dynamic functions is found to be strictly
planetary-that is, to originate only in virtue of local and
internal reactionary agencies-then all must be and do so, as
a necessary consequence of physical laws now well established
as inflexible ones.
Even if I take as a basis for my discussions of experimental
and optical data the conclusions at which physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, and geologists have arrived, and upon
which all classes of scientific men appear to be united, relative to the conditions and exchanges of solar and terrestrial
HEAT, I have solid grounds for my deductions. For (adopting
the terms of high British authorities), "whatever may have
"'been the original condition of our globe, or whatever its
"present internal constitution, all effect on the temperature of
its surface as arising from  that.condition has long ceased.
" Taking even the extreme supposition-viz. that the earth was
" once liquid through fusion, it is indubitable that, since the
" consolidation of the outer strata, the heat communicated by
"solar action acnd that lost by radiation BALANCE each other."
Such are the conclusions and the language of the most
eminent scholars of our time, expressed clearly and definitely,
in relation to solar and terestrial heat; and whether I assent
or not to the hypotheses upon which these determinations
have been reached, the statement and the facts are the points
which bear upon the issue of our discussions relative to the
origin and phenomena of solar and terrestrial light.
Now, since we know that light is generated in the same
manner as heat is generated, and is subject in every respect
to the same laws, it should follow from the preceding deter



CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   437
minations that the same amount of light is radiated toward
the sun as that which is communicated or induced by solar
action. If so, then the absorption of the light which is indisputably indicated in the Frauenhofer bands is due to the
local molecular action and atomic functions of the chemical
elements of our planet; and not, as my illustrious friend
Professor Kirchhoff conjectures, to the absorption of half the
solar light by incandescent metallic vapours suspended in
the flaming atmosphere of the sun, and which absorption, as
he asserts, is effected because the flaming sublimates are
cooler than the raging globe of molten metals from which
they are incessantly projected.
I have already shown that our globe, viewed as a cosmic
mass of elementary and compound chemical substances (and
the same proofs apply to all other globes), is charged to
extreme tension with repulsive as well as with attractive
force; and Kekule's discovery of the chemical fact of " atomic
saturations" (if I may so express this important step in
molecular physics) confirms the not less important one of
cosmic saturations which I present. Indeed, one supplements
the other: and when both series of facts are united into and
viewed as a single group of interdependent and correlated
phenomena, physical doctrines will become less unstable, and
natural philosophy, as a system  of positive truth, will the
sooner possess a firm basis for its general developments, and
its successive conclusions will be placed beyond controversy.
While every electrolytic experiment tends to establish the
former of these truths, the simplest dynamic experiment
proves the correctness of the other; for no mass of matter
can strike the globe without producing a series of jars, which
are communicated to every molecule of the sphere: and it is
out of these vibrations that proceed light and heat and electricity and magnetism, and all actinic changes.  In order to
prove that what is called the ray of solar light is a pure
terrestrial phenomenon, resulting from the decomposition and
intermixture, so to speak, of the impulses or influences o'
terrestrial and solar action and reaction, we may cite tlho;s




4 3 8              FORCE AND NATURE.
early experiments of Faraday (confirmed by all subsequent
ones, and by those of all other physicists), in which he proved
the direct action of magnetism and electricity upon the ray of
solar light through the agency of his analysing prism of borosilicate of lead. These facts (so famous when first announced,
and the most brilliant of Faraday's discoveries), establishing
the influence of electric currents on polarized light, and the
correlation of these secondary principles with one another,
and proving their mutual convertibility, are now well known;
but their significancy and the reach of their consequences
upon physical theories are not yet fully developed. The
important points in our subject elucidated by them are, that
if one is a terrestrial principle, THE OTHER IS ALSO; and that
the same chemical elements which generate electric impulses
can also absorb the luminous ones, and vice versa, in proportion as the equatorial, bilateral, or crucial expressionsthe dynamic element of the ray (a point heretofore alluded to
as among the most important of the fundamental conditions
of matter and force, in all their forms and reactions)-are
acted upon by the antithetic currents of the battery and
the earth.
Now all these phenomena, expanded into their cosmical
magnitudes, are, as I hold, legitimate local consequences of
the fixed states of saturation of molecules and of globes with
the attractive and repulsive forces; the facts about which are
laid down by Professor Kekule in regard to the former, and
developed by myself throughout the preceding pages in regard
to the latter.  I have already alluded to the action and
reaction of these globes, as chemical masses thus full to
Depletion of associated and opposing principles, as they roll
through a vacuum, balanced against each other by the most
delicate adjustments of their indwelling energies; and all
experiments and observations show that these adjustments
cannot be disturbed in the slightest degree without corresponding developments of light and heat, magnetism and
electricity, of actinic changes, and even of the volcanic and
seismic phenomena heretofore discussed. However various in




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   439
form, expression, or magnitude these phenomena may be,
they are all equally dynamic in their origin, character, and
functions, correlated by the same laws of fluctuating quantity
and intensity, and unitedly dependent for these variations
upon the form of the orbits and the relative distances which
these masses hold inversely to one another.  So delicate,
indeed, are these adjustments and the mutual interchanges of
the influences between the sun and the planets (as is now,established by the Kew observations, and as has recently
been set forth in the interesting papers of Dr. Stewart and
Mr. Lockyer), that the rolling of the heavenly bodies in relation to each other may be represented as perfectly analogous
to the rolling in direct contact of the wheels of a mill or of
a clock, the cogs and couplings of which are perpetually
interlocking and unlocking, or to the motions of the screw,
the correlative couplings of which are incessantly playing
into each other and working out the mechanical designs of
creation.  For the fact of their relative connexions and
motions in a vacuum must end in reciprocating local effects,
which in every issue must not only resemble, but absolutely
be, those of actual contact. That the influences and action of
vacuum must be nil requires in the present state of knowledge no demonstration. Since, therefore, the great cosmical
masses are, as we know, adjusted, balanced, correlated, and
moving by the inflexible laws which govern their aggregate
molecular energies, the phenomena generated by their mutual
influences must be local; and the secondary forces and the
various forms of mechanical power thus developed and made
sensible during their temporary existence and conversions
into each other cannot be subject to variation, or any form of
absolute alienation whatever. Grinding together, so to speak,
as these bodies perform their eternal circuits around each
other and their revolutions around their own axes, and in a
certain sense upon the surfaces of each other, their forces,
more than their substance, mutually affect their relative conditions of density and molecular friction; and thermic and
luminous, electric and magnetic polarizations, as dynamic or




440                FORCE AND NATURE.
equatorial functions and phenomena, unfold themselves as an
inevitable consequence of the chemical constitution of the
cosmic masses, and the vibratory and electrolytic action which
is incessantly taking place in their interior, and throughout
their surfaces and gaseous elements. All observation, experiment, and analogy tend to prove these points; and I know of
no fact to the contrary. The silent and picturesque images
or revelations, so to speak, of these interchanges or oscillating
functions of dynamic energy, established by the action and
reaction of material forms charged with forces and playing
the part of "couples " to each other (a fact which infuses a
cosmical significancy and verification into the mechanical
theory of Poinset)-the revelation and certainty of these
mutual interactions of material forces we behold in the black
and compensating bands of the prismatic spectra; and, thus
viewed as photographic pictures, so to speak, of the absorptive
and projective essences of matter, they become transformed
into indisputable indices of the existence and presence of
attraction and repulsion as the radical agents of the most
subtle functions of intercosmic nature.
When we further consider the experimental researches of
Faraday and of other observers in connexion with the effects
of light upon metals in an extreme state of subdivision, and
vice versd, and the facts that certain forms of electric action
upon gases will generate luminous bands complementary to
the Frauenhofer lines without the development of sensible
heat; and that even metals and alloys may be disintegrated,
and their impalpable particles translated, and associated with
other metals not in immediate contact with one another, and
accompanied by brilliant electric radiation independently of
destructive heat, or what is called combustion: when these
and numerous other facts tending to the same point which
are on record as having been manifested in our own atmosphere
are considered, it may be declared at least doubtful if the
prevailing theories are sound respecting the constitution of
the sun founded upon Professor Kirchhoff's explanation of the
causes and indications of the Frauenhofer lines.




CENiY'ZtL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   441
Objections raised upon the grounds that the moon and
planets do not yield spectra of their own can have no weight
in view of the facts, principles, and deductions heretofore
presented.  For what is a polarized ray of solar light? Light
is not original force per se, but an effect of force; the resultant of our two radical forces acting among the elements
of matter, metals and gases, and generating specific sums of
vibrations: and vibrations are only the equatorial local plays
of these two antagonistic forces where and when they meet
in atoms and resolve themselves, so to speak, into light, heat,
electricity, and magnetism. The fact discovered by (Ersted
of the dynamic element in these secondary forces, and which,
as is well known, was developed mathematically by the immortal Ampere, runs as a principle through every form and
manifestation of force in its relations to matter.  Thus
physical events occur in Jupiter and in the moon, as they do
in the earth. As these bodies roll and grind, so to speak,
relatively to the sun, their respective sums of matter and
energy are measured against, and conflict with, each other.
Attracting and repelling, pulling and pushing, in order to
execute effectively the designs embodied in each of them, a
succession of molecular impulses (that is to say, in the
language of optics, an invisible ray) of polar force encounters
another series of molecular impulses of planetary force, and,
as I have heretofore illustrated, these impulses mutually
resolve themselves into the equatorial phenomena discovered
by Arago in the polarizing prism, a picture of dynamic energy
complementary to the phenomena discovered in the solar
spectrum by Wollaston and Frauenhofer.  The planetary and
the lunar rays, or molecular impulses, thus become truly
secondary, subordinated, or reflected light. It is a solar impulse crushed, so to speak, broken up, and partly absorbed;
and, mixed with other impulses, it is turned at right angles
and projected right or left as radiant light to meet the eye of
the beholder. Polarized light, like solar light, is demonstrably
composed of the same elements of attraction and repulsion; for
it is ready instantly, as discovered by Faraday, to mingle with




442                 FORCE A.ND NATURE.
a magnetic or electric current, and go back again into the body
from which it at first proceeded. If Verdet and others have
not been able to unravel this mystery, it is not because they
have not laboured perseveringly and patiently, but because they
have lacked the instrument with which to attack the problem.
Thus it is, I hold, that the stars, including our sun, composed
of chemical elements more or less like those of our globe and
-other planetary bodies, and surrounded with gases illuminated
by electrical action (as all spectroscopic observations indicate)
-thus it is that the sun and stars glow with overpowering.splendour. In virtue of their vast dimensions and of their
mutual relations with each other and with their attendant
spheres, their mighty stores of internal energy burst out upon
their surfaces, and, agitating their gaseous envelopes, act at
a distance, and are absorbed again into their own centres
without the local loss of substance or of power. Thus it is
that their appendages, smaller in dimensions but constituted
of similar elements differently combined, and charged with
the identical radical forces of attraction and repulsion (forces
capable when excited by the larger masses of developing
phenomena similar to theirs), shine by what is called secondary,
reflected, or polarized light. The activities of their molecules,
responding to the activities of similar ones in the sun, both
give out and accept vibrations which are attuned in their
capacities alike for absorbing and rejecting definite types and:sums of energy, and which become sensible as light in consequence of their dynamic action being unfolded transiently
-to our eye as they dissolve and separate, and mingle with
the kindred principles from which they sprang.
13.
The relations of heat and darkness, as correlaLight and Cold.
tives of each other, are much better understood
than those of light and cold.  While the first two terms
express the existence and conditions of agencies which can




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.    443
be measured numerically as radiative and absorptive functions, and which are the indisputable representatives of
repulsion and attraction as abstract but effective principles
in nature, their opposites, light and cold, as associative and
correlative conditions tending also to peculiar and positive
phenomenal developments, have not been fully investigated.
While the genius and labour bestowed on the subject of light
in all its forms of exhibition have been altogether marvellous,
the subject of cold has been comparatively neglected, as a sort
of negative entity having no direct connexion with dynamics;
and even now its existence is doubted by almost all philosophers
as anything but a state of matter indicative of the absence of
heat. Whatever the final states of nature may be, they can
be determined only by positive inquiry, and not by ignoring
them because they seem unfathomable, or because preconceptions have existed for ages among men that they are so.
Even in the present state of knowledge it cannot be denied
that cold under certain circumstances magnifies itself into an
active agent, and that it always appears to manifest relations
to, and to hold direct associations with, light, influencing the
action of the latter and facilitating the expressions of its
energies. We have abundant evidence to show that these
conditions extend beyond experiment, and that they present
themselves in wide cosmical aspects. For while the passage
of an opaque body between the sun and another body cuts
-off the mechanical action of the sun, or a ray of solar impulse,.so to speak, at the point eclipsed, and thus suppresses that
vibratory excitement of the gaseous and metallic molecules
which generates direct light, and so produces what is called a
dark shadow, the passage of comets between the sun and,other stars gives evidences of the very opposite state of
things. That the varying intensities of cometary light are
due to the influences of the mechanical movements, both
internal and external, of the two bodies in relation to each
other, I have already elsewhere indicated; and that the tails
of comets play the part of luminous shadows penetrating the
profound depths of the interstellar darkness, through the




444                FORCE AND NATURE.
subtle correlations existing between the mechanical affinities
of light and cold (positive dynamic conditions of universal
nature not yet fully understood), few who have studied these
subjects in connexion with one another can seriously doubt.
And it is from this point of view that I invite the attention
of physicists and of spectroscopic astronomers, especially the
eminent men whose achievements have adorned this generation with such peculiar glory, to new observations and a
modification of their speculative ideas.
While my own interpretation of intercosnic action from
the studies of the Frauenhofer lines tends to unveil the
material links of connexion between all the members of the
cosmos, binding telluric molecules to distant worlds, and
the remotest stars and nebulae which the aided eye can reach
with the subtlest gases in our own atmosphere or in the
darkest depths of our planet, there is nevertheless nothing in
what I propose positively adverse to the fundamental principle
of the theorem laid down by the illustrious Kirchhoff. This
principle, expressed in my own terms, is that the SOURCE OF
LIGHIT is a mass of matter charged with energies in a more
intense state of vibratory excitement than those of the gases
(and even metals in extreme molecular subdivision) up2on which
these energies act, and where reactions are ensuing.
Under these aspects of the subject, distant conditions of
nature are brought into harmony with experiments and with
observations on the luminous phenomena, generated in connexion with cold, in the upper regions of our own atmosphere,
where light, as a vibratory principle playing among attenuated
gases, is more vividly expressed than at the surface of the
planet: and thus we may be led to infer that the visible
evolutions of the gases constituting comets are connected
more positively with the mechanical conditions of light and
cold, than with those of light and heat.  Moreover, I am
persuaded from a careful review of various data that, while
the "opaque globes" may be proved to be similar in physical
constitution to that of the solid globe-that is, to the dark
body-of the sun, the comets will be found to be similar




CENTZRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   445
to the photosphere, to be cold, and to be excited into luminous
conditions in like manner as is the case, as we have many
reasons to infer, with the photosphere itself. That intense
light may be generated without the direct presence of intense
heat is a fact well known; and it is to this point that I shall
now direct the special attention of the reader.
So much at least it has been necessary to set forth in order
to  meet the objections which will be immediately raised
against my inferences: and if I do not extend both facts and
arguments, it is not because the present state of science will
not permit me to do so, but because I expressly wish not to
complicate my discussions with attacks upon hypotheses, or
delay the reader longer from the data which I have to present
in connexion with this subject, and from the final conclusions
of this chapter.
14.
SolarandTerres-  The interesting discoveries and deductions of
trial Observa- Alexander Wilson, of Glasgow, published nearly a
tions compared,'       z 
and Inferences century ago, respecting the probable solidity of
therefrom.   the dark surface of the sun and the elastic changeable character of its luminous envelope, have been continually
confirmed by subsequent telescopists, and have in no serious
manner been modified by any recent astronomer, notwithstanding all improvements in the means of observation. No
spectrum  observations, and especially no simple speculation
upon the igneous state of the solar globe founded upon
prismatic experiments, can overthrow his conclusions, inasmuch as it is apparent that the solar forces must act in bulk
-that is to say, as a unit or as concentrated points-upon
this planet, and thus represent in each isolated ray the combined molecular activities and aggregate chemico-mechanical
atomicities, so to speak, which exist in, and are constantly
acting and reacting throughout, the entire solar globe, in such




446                FORCE AND NATURE.
a manner as to generate its refulgence. By this I mean to be
understood that the chemico-molecular vibrations constantly
active in the solar mass are there mingled so thoroughly, that
when they act (as indicated in the preceding section) upon
the earth's surface as points of repulsive force, and here,
encounter cognate forces and vibrations, their constituent
elements fall asunder in the prism; and that the dynamic
functions of terrestrial repulsive and attractive forces so act
therein as to reject or absorb one series of vibrations or
another, and in this manner demonstrate the identity of both
matter and force in the two bodies.
In virtue of all that precedes, and of this deduction therefrom, it will be seen that spectrum phenomena, considered as
indices of the internal conditions of stellar, planetary, or
cometary bodies, afford no positive proof that the sun is an
incandescent globe, or that its photosphere is an envelope of
flaming metallic sublimates.  Doubtful or revolutionary as
these delineations may appear, they are nevertheless truthful;
and experiment and observation tend to confirm their accuracy more and more. The necessity, therefore, of maintaining the irrational hypotheses, that the surface of the sun is a
surging molten ocean in consequence of the incessant impact
of meteors or of any causes; that the photosphere is constituted of metallic fumes, blasted into white heat or fed with
meteorites and comets; that here and there black clouds of
condensing smoke or vapour form in double strata, and float
across its central latitudes, in constant coaptation, constituting
the umbra and penumbra of the so-called solar spots, notwithstanding telescopic evidence to the contrary;-now the
bases for such opinions must vanish in view of our positive
knowledge, and from what we may infer from the action of
terrestrial forces upon terrestrial matter-that is to say, our
knowledge, of terrestrial physics, and the application of this
knowledge to solar physics.
A momentary review of the action and effects of telluric
forces will show that high degrees of luminosity may be
generated in the envelopes of our own globe, unaccompanied




CENITRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   447
by heat; and not only so, but also in the midst of the intense
cold of polar latitudes, and during arctic nights; that intense
light may at least be generated independently of glowing
heat; that, contrariwise, great heat may exist in mineral and
metallic matter without the display of dazzling splendour;
and that all these states may be active independently of
meteoric impact.
In order to give all forms of evidence that weight which
they really possess when practically considered, and by way
of illustrating the causes of solar light and heat, I will
introduce at this point a few co-ordinate facts and inferences.
which, while they relate especially to the subject of heat, are
collateral in their bearing upon that of light and the physical
constitution of the heavenly bodies in general. And inasmuch
as the laws governing the generation of both heat and light.
are identical, any fact relative to the sufficiency or insufficiency of this or that physical action as a productive cause of
one of them will apply equally to the origin of the other.
Physicists and geologists who have made volcanic phenomena a subject of special observation in situ are aware that
lava upon its eruption at white heat turns almost instantly
cherry red; in another moment (in the daylight at least) is
almost black; and in an incredibly short time, even while
red, will sustain great weights, and might be traversed, were
not its radiant heat so intense and suffocating. As facts.
abound upon this point, I will not here intrude in detail my
personal observations and experiences at Hawaii, both in the
burning lake of Kilauea, and upon the great lava stream of
1855 and 1856, which broke forth near the summit of Mauna
Loa. It is well known with what rapidity incandescent lava
bridges itself over with a brown or black crust, while yet a
flowing river at white heat underneath.  The radiation of
heat under such circumstances is intense.
In view, therefore, of this experience alone, we may safely
infer that it is not necessary for the solar globe to be soincalculably hot (as theories assert) as to maintain iron and
other metals suspended in states of vapour in the higher




448                FORCE ANVD NA'TURE.
regions of the solar atmosphere in order to radiate great sums
of heat. Nor, indeed, would it appear to be necessary, in
view of modern experiment, for the solar mass to be at white
heat in its envelopes, nor even upon its surface, in order for
its calorific power to be felt by our own globe. The experiments of Melloni, Tyndall, and others in diathermism  conclusively demonstrate that intensest heat and fire can be
generated by the dark calorific rays of the sun alone, when
concentrated and transmitted through media of utter darkness.
The polarizing action of repulsion and attraction on matter,
modified by atomic or chemical laws, appears to be the
mechanism which develops such results-the action of thesame forces, indeed, which under other conditions of matter,
or the opposite expressions of their own energies, would
produce and intensify light to such an extent as to manifest
palpable mechanical and actinic power. Enlarging experimental data into terrestrial and solar magnitudes, and viewing
these magnitudes as solid terms in the problem, we may now
begin to comprehend a fruitful field for theory, and finally
reach truth through facts, discussion, and induction-the only
reliable means of positive knowledge.
The method by which heat is generated within the earth,
and the fact of its mechanism  being correlated with the
periodic intensities of volcanic eruptions and of seismic phenomena, and with the relations which all these phenomena
hold to incessant variations of heliocentric distance, have
been already alluded to. That this heat, and the action of
the mechanical forces generating it, maintain, moreover,
constant numerical relations of intensity with similar phenomena existing in the sun, we have also sufficiently set forth
and proved: and it now remains only for science to follow
these facts to their final consequences.
By applying this brief array of experimental data-an
array capable of indefinite expansion-to solar phenomena,
we see no reason to question the remarkable discoveries and
conclusions of Alexander Wilson upon the black and solid
structure of the sun, as determined by the solar spots, a.nd




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PIHYSICS.   449
the possibilities of its habitable conditions indicated by those
discoveries. Indeed, they are sustained by every species of
observation and induction. For, however white and dazzling
the molten interior of a cosmic mineral mass, and however
violently agitated with convective motions this interior or
nucleus, may be, the surface itself immediately loses this
dazzling splendour when exposed to the cold of space, and its
radiant heat appears to be then converted by gases into light.
We have, furthermore, sufficient experimental means to show
that the thermic power of the solar globe would not be extinguished in its peculiar influence upon the earth by a change
of superficial aspect, involving a total loss of lustre, even
were there no atmospheric envelopes to constitute a photosphere of transcendent brightness, and although  perfect
darkness might reign throughout the surface of the solar ball.
That thermism, as excited upon the earth's surface by the
sun, and discovered in the refrangibilities of the prism, is a
different function of physical energy from colorific light, or
colourism, and actinism, we know by daily experiment; and
that all these material and immaterial powers are bound up
together in the solar ray, and yet entirely separable, representing the manifold and separable elements of force and
molecules and the atomicities of molecules existing in the
central body, lenticular and spectral discoveries have positively determined.
Concluding these brief remarks upon solar heat, pregnant
with amazing and undeveloped import, we will proceed to
consider the manner in which its correlate, solar light, may
be generated; treating the phenomenon from other points of
view than those of the meteoric theory, and considering it as
a result of dynamic conditions incident to the internal constitution of the solar mass, and the elastic character of its
compound gaseous envelopes. Whatever the facts or inferences
relative to the origin of solar light which may be reached by
any process of investigation, they must apply with equal
truth to the origin of cosmic light throughout the universe.
GG 




4 5 0              FORCE AND NAXTURE
15.
The enormous magnitude of the sun is the first element in
the problem.  Its connexion with other stellar masses of
equal or greater bulk is the second.  Sir William Herschel
was the first to demonstrate the relative angular motions of
the sun and other so-called fixed stars, And while, as early
as 1783, he approximately ascertained that our central orb,,
with all its worlds, is moving with prodigious velocity toward
a point in the constellation Hercules, which he fixed at 257~'
right ascension, and 25~ north declination, Otto Struve, of
late, not only determined this point to be nearly the same-to
wit, R. A. 250~ 9}' and N. D. 34~ 36'-but that our system
is flying at the speed of 150,000,000 of miles a year, or
17,123 miles per hour, the incredible rate of five miles per
second, to that region of the heavens.  It is in view of these
discoveries that we now  begin to perceive the wondrous
potency of the mechanical forces at work between the different suns and systems in the cosmos. And inasmuch as we
have already traced the laws which determine the internal
commotions of the earth and of comets, as these bodies sweeps
from year to year and age to age in eccentric paths around the
sun, having their individual, and even their local, agitationsexcited and sustained by their central responses to similar
central forces ever operative in the solar mass, we shall be at.
no loss to detect in the solar globe itself sufficient mechanical
causes to develop not only its internal heat, but also the.
intensely luminous phenomena manifested in its photosphere.
And in this connexion it must be further remembered, that.
there can be no motion of bodily translation which is not
directly dependent upon, and reciprocal with, the internal
action and reaction of the attractive and repulsive energies.
which are incessantly oscillating from centre to circumference,
in these flying spheres; and that, as the sun rolls ponderously
through this immeasurable circuit, both internal and external
motions are all determined in obedience to and conformity




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   451
with a unity and universality of law, which alike embrace
molecule, sun, and cosmos in their simplicity and extension.
The phenomena displayed so conspicuously in the new star
in Corona Borealis, and the inferences drawn from them by
Messrs. Huggins and Miller, tend to confirm this conclusion.
Even the general phenomenon of scintillation or " twinkling,"
which Arago endeavoured so ingeniously to explain, only
strengthens it. The various colours of the stars also might
be adduced to show that the greatest differences of chemical
combinations existing in the celestial bodies subordinate all
their elemental and atomic laws to the absolute supremacy
of this unique and universal principle.
Having stated these inferential elements of the problem,
we will next array a few authentic facts and phenomena, in
order to elucidate and simplify our analysis, and thus arrive by
inductive and indisputable proofs at the immediate mechanism
of the agencies engaged in generating solar light.
Since we may safely conclude, through the discoveries of
Kirchhoff, Frauenhofer, Bunsen, and others, that the chemical
constitutions of the sun and of the earth are similar, and in
the main identical; and by all other physical observations
and mathematical deductions, that the forces existing and
operative in both bodies are also identical, differing only in
measure, and this in proportion to the quantity of matter
respectively constituting the two bodies; we may be equally
sure that the conditions which generate light in the terrestrial
envelopes are similar to those which generate it in the solar
envelopes, and vice versd.
That the solar photosphere is an atmosphere of elastic and
moveable matter similar in its physical capacities to our own
-capable of elevation and depression, of condensation and
expansion, of bursting and closing and rolling, like clouds
of vapour, smoke, and dust; and capable, moreover, like our
own, of holding crystallizable substances in solution and suspension-is furthermore rendered certain by general telescopic
and spectral observation, and by inferential forms of proof.
Now we know that the various terrestrial gases, and that
GG2




452                FOR CE AND NV7' TURE
all metals in their most attenuated states of solution, are
capable of high illumination, when excited by the action of
electric currents; and we must not forget throughout this
discussion that electric force, magnetic force, and luminous
force are neither more nor less than antipolar and antithetic
translations through molecules of attraction and repulsion,
viewed as mechanical principles, acting under pressure of
cosmic and infinite quantities, causing various degrees of
vibration, and thereby developing sensible phenomena.  I
introduce here no hypotheses, rejecting wholly the fancyings
of the illustrious Biot, and admitting only as more reasonable
the speculations of Kcemtz. I admit and use facts alone, and
positive inductions therefrom. That which is achievable in
experimentation, we find to be actually developed in nature
upon a cosmic scale. Terrestrial auroras (which are in reality
cosmic aureole) are often so bright as to illuminate the
entire globe, and transform  our atmosphere into a sea of
pulsating and waving flames.  In both polar regions their
intensity is very great, and their light is more or less
constant. Whalemen, navigators, and explorers of various
nationalities have described their constancy, brilliancy, and
wonderful coruscations.  M. Lettin, of the French Scientific
Commission, who spent the winter of 1858-59  at West
Finmark, in 70~ N. Lat., declares the refulgence of these
shooting auroras to be at times so intense as to surpass that
of stars of the first magnitude, and that the entire sky blazes
with dazzling splendour, fringed with an horizon of jet, while
an ocean of snow and ice below reflects and renders the light
more resplendent still.  That all this intensity of light is
generated by the same dartings of attractive and repulsive
forces through the gases and vapours of our atmosphere is
not only rendered probable by our experiments, but positively
proved by constantly accompanying fluctuations of the magnetic needle.  And even when similar auroras appear in
more temperate latitudes, either as circumscribed or general
phenomena, we can now prove, by means of telegraphic connexions, that their origin depends upon internal mechanical




CENTRAL FORCES AivN  CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   453
agencies; thus establishing the great cosmic facts, that terraqueous electric conditions are universally associated with
these aierial phenomena, and that both spring from the same
profound telluric causes, sources, and forces. I have already
shown in an exhaustive manner what these causes, sources,
and forces are, and the nature and methods of their action
and reaction, as effective instruments in all classes of physical developments.  And when, in view of the premises,
we consider that the earth, with  its given volumes of
forces, is less than 8,000 miles in diameter, and that the
sun, in comparison, with its proportional stores, is 882,000
miles in diameter, and agitated throughout its prodigious
mass by its interposition between all the other stars of
heaven, to say nothing of its relations to its own circling
system  of worlds, we can no longer doubt that abundantly
active and sufficient conditions exist within our central orb
to generate that refulgency of its envelopes which, so remarkable and constant, is yet variable also, like our auroral telluric
light, as shown in the observations of the Kew telescopists,
Schwabe, and others.  I might enlarge much upon these
points; but physicists will comprehend their bearing: and
that is sufficient for my argument.
Omitting specially to speak in this connexion of the violent
electric discharges and illum1inations which attend sudden
condensations of aerial vapours, suspended at all altitudes (for
I have noted them in the Andes, floating apparently higher
above their summits than the Andes are above the sea),
and omitting, also, to dwell upon aeronautic reports, all of
which clearly establish the development of luminous phenomena to be coincident with, and dependent upon, the tranquil
electrical changes, of a positive and negative character, which
invariably attend the oscillatory condensations and expansions
of atmospheric vapours, at various altitudes, I will call attention to another series of facts, and specially mention the
remarkable and constant illumination of the borders, and
apparently the remote surface also, of the clouds which.form at certain seasons of the year along the coast of Peru,




454                FORCE AND] N'TURE.
and float at low  altitudes between Sachura and Tumbez.
I name this  limit because, during  former travels, this
particular region of sky was more or less open for many
months to my continual observation. These nebulous phenomena always excited my curiosity and attracted my attention. The light, which was never less bright than that of a
mild aurora, and was sometimes very strong, formed a border
of considerable depth, entirely surrounding isolated clouds, and
always adorning the upper edge of the endless banks of sea
fog which collected at evening, and nightly rested along the
coast.  Were our little earth enveloped, like the sun, in continuous cumuli, or rolling masses of cloud, undergoing similar
violent action, incessant changes of density, elevation, and
depression, or of condensation and expansion, there is every
reason to believe, from  what we know  of the reactionary
influences of terrestrial forces upon gases, that this nebulous
envelope would appear more or less luminous to foreign
observers, and that our planet would even make itself conspicuous by its own light to remote regions of space. Facts,
derived from observations of comets and other bodies in our
system, render this conclusion almost certain. As the planet
Venus has been sometimes seen at its inferior conjunction,
and as it was especially  observed under very favourable
circumstances, in December 1866, by my friend Professor
Chester S. Lyman, of New Haven, there exists every indicacation, not only that our sister planet possesses an atmosphere, but also that this atmosphere is mildly illuminated by
the action of its own internal cosmic forces, in like manner as
is the earth's atmosphere in auroras, and as are the clouds of
Sachura and Paita, by the activity of their electric conditions,
and their connexions with telluric forces.
Heated aqueous vapour, suddenly condensed, is strongly
luminous.  This fact is daily demonstrated in the breathing
and whistling of locomotives as they pass my window, filling
my study with gushes of light and momentary cheerfulness
during these dark days of a Heidelberg winter which I am at
present experiencing. That the highly electric energy which




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICOS.   455,steam is known to possess as it escapes from every steam
valve is in these cases transformed into luminous phenomena
through the influence of cold is more than I venture to,declare; but the fact is constantly visible.
Beside these facts, there occurs a not unfrequent phenonenon of sudden and transient or long-continued illumination
of the surface of both land and sea, often occurring in dark,
and even during starless nights-a phenomenon observable
everywhere upon the planet's surface, noticed by all physicists, which is wholly independent of the light of the stars.
Although this transient appearance has never been explained,
it is uncquestionably generated by the action of the forces;and agencies now  under discussion upon the gases which
envelope our earth.
The sea, no less than the atmosphere, affords abundant:evidence to show that the radical forces, radiating from the
endless stores of energy with which the interior of the planet
is charged, can so act as to generate luminous phenomena in
its saline and moveable envelopes.
The remarkable luminosity which occurs at various periods
over great areas of the ocean, and in all latitudes and longitudes, sometimes increasing to a strong and even fiery efful-,gence, and frequently (but not always) preceding or attending
violent aerial movements, a phenomenon which Humboldt.and others have ascribed to phosphorescent infusoria, I have
long observed to have an origin exclusively physical.  Phosphorescent infusoria and small crustaceans intensely brilliant
-on their inferior surfaces abound at certain seasons in many
regions; and, during the passage of vessels through waters
thus inhabited, they sparkle, and often mark the wake with
many little star-like points.  But they do not produce that
remarkable glow and general refulgence of the salt water,
which at particular tines, during dark nights, define the track.of vessels for many hundred yards, and which resemble the
tails of great comets streaming into the black depths of
space. The doctrine that the phenomenon called marine
phosphorescence is wholly dependent upon vital forms, or




456               TORCE AND NAdTURE.
putrescent organic matter, is a great error, reposing upon high
authority but imperfect observation.  Its most remarkable
exhibitions are connected with telluric causes, often attended
with ascending currents of repulsive force and atmospheric
molecules, and followed and accompanied with the most
terrific cyclones.  My friend Captain Shipley W. Crosby,
who some years since conducted a whaling cruise among
the Aleutian Islands, narrated to me a fact which, on account
of its authenticity, scientific importance, and direct bearing
upon our subject, is worthy of permanent record.  The
afternoon and sunset were without portent on a certain
day, when he went to pass the evening with the master
of a neighbouring cruiser.  When he came upon deck
toward midnight to return to his own ship, he was struck
with the uncommon stillness of the air.  The ocean was
equally motionless. He observed the sky to be unusually
dark. But when his sailors dipped their oars in the sea, it
flamed so much more than he had ever previously witnessed,
illuminating his boat and men so strongly as to make them
visible in the general darkness, that, filled with fearful forebodings of some uncommon disturbance in nature, he instantly, on reaching his ship, commanded the sleeping watch
on deck, and put his ship in the snuggest order for a storm.
Both officers and men thought it unnecessary prudence; and
the night wore quietly away.  But the following day the
most terrific hurricane he ever experienced fell upon that
region. His ship was thus saved, while the one he visited
was lost, and the entire whaling fleet suffered great damage.
All winds are but the gravitation of air which falls more or
less violently to replace that which repulsive force, emanating
from telluric fountains, has lifted toward space; and we now
know not only that "the wind bloweth where it listeth," but
also why it listeth, and, moreover, "whence it cometh and
whither it goeth."
Beside personally witnessing similar phenomena in a less
marked degree, in various longitudes, and through latitudes
varying from the equator to 56" both north and south, I have




CENTR2L FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   457
often, in dark nights, experimented upon the strength of this
light by noting the time upon my watch at the paddle-boxes
of ocean steamers, and have remarked that the degrees of
phosphorescence are constantly changing; sometimes being
very great and luminous, sometimes slight or altogether
absent. Indeed I have now no doubt, as the result of prolonged observation, that this phenomenon should be considered as a marine aurora, connected in some way with the
action of terrestrial forces, as they play from the planet's
centre toward space, and vice versa, generating light in the
oceanic envelope in the same manner as they generate it in
aerial auroras. When the ocean is in this excited condition,
the tracks of fishes may be traced by lines of light. The
wakes of porpoises are remarkably distinct, flashing like fire;
and it so happened, during my voyage, many years since,
around Van Diemen's Land, that on a tranquil night I traced
the form of a whale in his monstrous outlines and in all his
motions by a pale greenish light, as he slowly moved his fins,
rising to the surface now and then to breathe, and falling
again a short distance below it, and keeping time with the
sluggish movement of the ship as the latter sailed before a
light unruffling wind. All this order of phenomena depends
unquestionably upon the subtle influence of terraqueous
forces, connected in some occult way with evaporation, and
with ascending atmospheric movements.
Those remarkable exhibitions called corpora santa clearly
demonstrate that electric light can be not only generated in
the sea, but also radiated from the mast-heads, yard-arms, and
every angular projection of ships, as they sail through regions
temporarily excited by radiating currents, or exhalations of
repulsive force made visible by atmospheric vapour; for
corpora santa are true aureolas of marine electric flame, and
their light is often very intense.
Since the order of phenomena to which I here advert has
not, to my knowledge, been observed in rivers or lakes, it
may be legitimately inferred that the solution of calcium,
magnesium, sodium, and other metallic salts constituting the




-4 5 8              FORCE AND NATURE.
aqueous envelope of the globe, contribute to the generation of
these peculiar displays of luminous energy. The luminous
energy of the sun indicates by the spectrum analysis the pre-.sence of similar substances in that body.  Upon our earth
their exhibitions of light are not associated with intense heat.
It has been long observed that electric light often ascends
in fearful flames from the surface of the solid ground, illuminating vast fields of overhanging vapours, and transforming
our sky into momentary photospheres.  The same phenomenon has also been observed to take place from the surface
of the ocean. A fact of this kind is particularly recorded by
a Kingston (Jamaica) correspondent to the Boston Journal, who,
in describing occurrences attending the fearful West Indian
earthquake of the night of Nov. 11-12, 1867, makes the
following statement as an eye-witness:-" About eight P.M.
"on the 11th the sky looked excessively black to the south.
"..  About half-past eight a fearful thunderstorm was ob"served to the S.S.W.  The vividness of the lightning was
" far beyond anything remembered to have been witnessed in
"Jamaica. It even at the distance of several miles lighted up
the whole surrounding country, and in the darkness, by the
"aid of one of these grand momentary illuminations, H.M.S.
"Phebe was plainly distinguished in the distance making for
"' the harbour of Port Royal.  The lightning looked as if it
"sprang upward from  the sea; at one time it was fork' lightning, cat another it appeared like lacge balls of fire rising
" up from  the water and bursting with grcat brilliancy in the' clouds.  There was no appearance of the storm approaching
"toward  Kingston.... At  11.21  came  the  tremendous
" heaving of the earth."
As the air and ocean afford such abundant, diversified, and
indisputable proofs of the generation of terrestrial light, as a
pure cosmic phenomenon; so the land also contributes its
quota in turn, pointing to internal mechanical causes for
such external conditions.
Facts similar to that last noted upon the ocean, and only,differing in intensity, have been everywhere and at various




CENTRAL FORCES ANVD CELESTIAL PHYSI-CS.   459
times observed upon the land. Among them is one resembling
the phenomenon just described, which has been recorded by
Reid in his work upon "The Laws of Storms."  Omitting
details of the fearful ravages of the elements upon this,occasion (another West India hurricane of 10th and 11th
August, 1831), I will only cite a single sentence d-plropos to
our subject: " A few minutes afterwards the deafening noise
"of the wind sank to a solemn murmur, or rather to a distant' roar; and the lightning, which from midnight had flashed
"and darted forkedly with few but momentary intermissions,
" now (3 A.M. 11th) for nearly half a minute played frightfully'' between the clouds and the earth with novel and surprising
"action.  The vast body of vapour appeared to touch the
"houses (at Barbadoes), and issued downward flcaming blazes,
4' which were nimbly returned from the earth upwcard."
Another fact, observed during the present year, and reported by M. Decharme to the Academy of Sciences, is still
mnore remarkable; and it shows how  actively and how
intensely cosmic light may  be generated  independently
of incandescent conditions, and  without  combustion or
destructive action upon the surface of a planet or star. I
will use the description of the phenomenon as it has been
-condensed by the scientific reporter to Galignani's Messenger
for 28th August, 1868: —
" The Academy of Sciences has just received a letter from
" M. Decharme on a phenomenon which occurred during the' great storm which visited a large portion of France on
"July 25th last, and particularly Angers.  The day had
"been exceedingly hot, the thermometer marking 37~ Cent.
"(98~ Fahr.).  About eight P.M. distant flashes of lightning
" appeared in the west, amid heavy clouds coursing the
"horizon.  About nine o'clock a curious spectacle attracted
attention: besides the usual flashes, which followed each
other in quick succession, ninety-two of them being counted
"in the course of a minute, another kind of luminous phe"nomena was remarked at intervals of about ten minutes.' It seemed to rise from the earth like a bouquet of fire



460                FORCE AND NATURE.
"works, or like the flames of a volcano issuing from a crater,
"or at other times like a fiery vapour, spreading in all direc"tions, and successively invading the various strata of clouds,
"over which the luminous effluvia seemed slowly to glide,
"the eye being perfectly able to follow the progress.  From
"nine to a quarter-past eleven the phenomenon continued
"visible in its fullest intensity.  A few seconds before the
"storm broke over the town, almost every flash of lightning
" was accompanied by white vapour, slightly tinged with
"violet, illuminating the whole'space, and apparently pene" trating into the apartments the windows of which were
"open.  Still no smell was perceptible, no commotion was
"felt, no indisposition or peculiar sensation experienced.
"This continued till the storm rose to its height, at a quarter" past eleven, from  which time the whole sky appeared
" literally on fire. The hurricane itself lasted till half an
" hour after midnight, and then intermittently till an hour
" later."
All general readers are familiar with the observations
recorded by English tourists through the High Alps, of the
electric light flashing from  crags and icicles, accompanying
even rains and mists, as I have already described similar
phenomena to be generated in the sea.  Both, and all these
conditions, are more or less local and temporary; but they
are secondary results of the fluctuating translations of telluric
forces from interior regions to exterior ones, and vice versd,
charging and discharging the envelopes of the planet, and
displaying luminous phenomena by the subtle activity of such
translations.
The luminous marsh-gases (known as ignes fcatui) afford
another species  of evidence, however insignificant their
weight, upon possible causes of cosmic light.  But such or
similar will-o'-the-wisps exist not alone in marshes, and are
not the only examples of spontaneous aerial combustion or
luminosity that have been seen.  So remarkable a phenomenon of this class was witnessed by myself in South America,
in May 1.865, that I am  induced to give it permanent record




CEVTRhAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHIIICS.   461
in this connexion, inasmuch as so important a fact is not only
a contribution to knowledge, but may also excite more active
inquiry into the nature and causes of such spectral lights.
At the time mentioned, I was engaged in a geological reconnaissance along the coast region of the province of Piura,
Peru, accompanied by two American companions, and an
Indian attendant.  We halted one day at dark, about half
way between the river Piura, or town of Sachura, and Point
Aguja, within sound of the waves of Sachura Bay.  The
leaden sky and damp bleak wind common to that locality
between sunset and sunrise were chilling us long before
we made our beds on the drifting sand of that Sahara-like
region.  Sleeping little, I observed for much of the night
that the cloudy sky only broke sufficiently to permit occasional glimpses of the stars. Toward morning it was more
densely overcast, and bleaker than ever.  Tired of discomfort, I summoned my companions before daylight in order
to get breakfast and prepare for an early start. We had
barely risen, when one of them, an old resident of Paita,
exclaimed, " Why, doctor, there is the British mail steamer
bound south." I looked westward, over the Bay of Sachura,;
and there, sure enough, apparently a long way off, were two
bright orange-coloured lights, each with a conspicuous train,
and one just ahead of the other, resembling the flames or
light from  two smoke-stacks.  But, as I regarded them
intently, I was struck with the rapidity and inequality of
their motion, which seemed to increase and waver from
moment to moment.  They appeared, indeed, to be chasing
each other. They were moving horizontally at almost the
same level, only a few feet from the surface of the land or
water, and with greater rapidity than it was possible for any
steamer to move.  At first, supposing them  far off at sea, I
was surprised at the quickness of their motion and transient
variations of relative distance; and soon became convinced
that they issued from  no steamship's funnels, but were
luminous objects of some sort, one following or chasing the
other, not many thousand yards, perhaps feet, away.  I




462                FORCE AND N  T URE.
called the attention of my companions to these points; and
they came to similar conclusions.  What were these lights?
Our curiosity became intensely excited. They would vanish
for a moment as the low dunes toward the bay intervened,
and  appear again moving  swiftly southward, sometimes
almost coming together, then separating, and never more
than ten or fifteen feet apart, and each showing bright yellow
luminous trains two or three feet long; both objects strongly
brilliant, but not defined with clear outlines. In a word, they
resembled large flaming torches without smoke in hot pursuit
one after the other, just above the surface of the earth and
sea. They were visible many minutes, and suddenly vanished,
while yet in full blast, behind what I supposed to be a range
of hillocks on the edge of the bay. Of course I was on the
2qi vive for the same or similar phenomena to reappear.  We
observed in all directions.  Some minutes elapsed, when one
of my companions detected and followed for a while a small
bright light in the south-west. He traced it; but I failed to,
descry it, to his great surprise. I patiently watched, while
my companions busied themselves in  preparing  for the
journey.  The grey of dawn was beginning to steal into the
eastern night, and I beginning to despair, when to my great.
delight another luminous object appeared, approaching from
the south-west and sailing toward the north, higher in the air
than those before described; and almost immediately there.
appeared another slowly following, but not violently chasing.
the first, as in the former phenomenon. These strange objects.
swept along at different heights, without trains, appearing like,
large irregularly-shaped bladders of light, sometimes near each
other, then far apart, rising and falling as if moved by currents
of air, or more like slowly sailing birds, and changing their
motions in all directions. In aspect they were at first yellow
and bright; afterwards, as daylight advanced, growing paler
and blueish white, like the fumes of phosphorus seen in the;
dark. They were more defined in form than the first, less intensely brilliant, yet apparently shapeless, and varying from
six to fifteen inches in their various diameters.  They were:




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   463strange "spectral" lights without definite forms or proportions; at moments almost lost to sight, then reappearing againmore brightly, and apparently having some relative connexion
with each other, like that of gregarious birds. They were a
long time visible, and finally were lost in the daylight. They
appeared to float over both the shores and waters of the bay.
What were they? I know not.  The recollection of them is
a marvel to me to this day. I rode all that forenoon to the
westward toward Point Aguja and over the coast mountainridge.  No fresh water nor bogs exist in the entire country.
It is, on the contrary, a great saline region. The neighbourhood consists of an immense plain of quartzose sand impregnated with salt, and of a lofty broken ridge of slates
and old sandstones, capped and flanked with thin beds of
marine forms, the most of which are identical with those
living in the adjacent sea. On the northern border of Point
Aguja, however, is a petroleum  spring; and I have been
informed that "sleeks of petroleum" are sometimes seen
upon Sachura Bay.  I have no speculations to offer upon a
fact so remarkable and obscure as these strange flying lights,
and which, to my knowledge, has no equal, except in the
superstitious traditions of the famous "Lumpkin's lights,"
which the old fishermen of Cape Cod still declare to have
been formerly seen "jumping up and down" and flying with
a "hissing sound" (to use their own language) over the
waters of Provincetown harbour.  The sandy surroundings
of the two localities are somewhat similar.  An exact description and a permanent record of these phenomena are,
what I wish to make here, in order as much to enlist futureobservation  upon such  subjects as appropriately to add
another fact to a numerous category, all going to show conclusively that luminosity may be generated in the gaseous
envelopes of cosmic bodies independently, in many instances,
of heat, and in all cases as direct results of the invisible
action of internal mechanical and chemical forces alone.
A reference to certain organic forms, inhabiting both air
and sea, which display even dazzling light, and to luminosities.




46 4               FORCE. AND NfTURF.
generated in decomposing animal and vegetable matter, only
more and more reveals such molecular conditions as prove
that internal and local perturbations of force are the sole requisites for developing luminous phenomena, rather than the
impact of foreign masses of a meteoric character, which would
render the development of cosmic light subordinate to the
prior development of glowing heat. When, indeed, the prodigious amounts of light emitted by many insignificant insects,
the glowworm, for instance, are considered, and the inferences
derived from their conditions of temperature, magnitude, chemical constitution, &c. are taken into account, it may well
be questioned whether any theory can be correctly based
which assumes stellar light to be an impossible phenomenon,
unless such concomitant conditions exist as must preclude
for ever the possible existence of organic forms upon either
of the infinite host of worlds which adorns the heavens.
16.
Now, when all these diversified classes of facts, and more
even which are not mentioned, are grasped together, conmpressed into a single category, and viewed in one sense as convertible or as kindred phenomena (since the same reactionary
telluric and central forces are, in one way or another, the
sources of each, however local or general their display);when thus grouped and considered, and when the sequences
drawn from their analyses are applied to such a magnified
condition of things as exists in the sun, we may begin to
comprehend how the same mechanical forces at work in the
earth would, if at work proportionally in the central orb, be
capable of generating, not only its internal thermic, but also
its photospheric phenomena; and how they might act so as to
allow the former to be generated, and to exist independently
of and wholly disconnected from the latter, and vice versa (as
revealed by the spectrumn), and at the same time to be inti



CEiNTRAL FORCES dAJV  CELESTIAL PIIYSICS.   465
mately correlated the one with the other, as light, and heat,
and actinisml  must be correlated under all circumstances,
through the radical forces upon which they depend for their
individual and general existence.  And this induction, at
variance with theories of every sort, magnifies itself into a
final truth, when we consider that the stupendous forces
playing upon and through the solar mass, and ending in developments of central heat and superficial light, are generated
by universal reciprocities of stellar action and reaction; and
that the solar globe, placed in the midst, of the rolling masses
of the Milky Way, assumes the condition of a mass of iron
in a rolling-mill subjected to the impact of countless triphammers every instant of time.
Such is the mechanism employed in generating the phenomena of heat and light, which mankind in all ages have believed
to exist in the sun; always failing, nevertheless, to detect
their causes and their unfailing fountains of supply.  The
present age, however, more fruitful in inventions and precise microscopic and telescopic study-in a word, in positive
experimental and instrumental research-and satisfied with
nothing short of absolute knowledge, has happily been aided
by accidents more than by theories in reaching certain profound and universal facts and laws.  Indeed, it is to the
honour of human thought, combated and circumscribed as
naturalists have been in times past, and are even now, in all
pursuits and speculations demanding the freest inquiry, that
a knowledge of these facts and laws has been finally acquired.
17.
Beside the heat and light generated in the solar mass, in
virtue of its chemico-elementary constitution, we might well
infer the electric and magnetic elements to coexist there
also as cosmic agents, in consequence of our knowledge of
the fact that the numerical variations of intensity in these
H H




466                FORCE X /ANTD N^iTURE
elements, so constant as terrestrial functions, are related to and
governed by the ellipticity and eccentricity of the earth's
orbit. This, nevertheless, as a necessary result of fallacious
opinions on cosmical physics, could, up to this time, only
be conjectured, without being positively known; and these
great facts, besides being undemonstrable upon, can never
be reconciled with, present theories of celestial mechanics.
A  new  era, however, has already begun to dawn.  The
discoveries of Rumford, Faraday, Mayer, and  Joule lead
us now to understand that where mechanical force, chemical
elements, heat and light exist, there also may exist electricity and magnetism, as correlative and equivalent phenomena and elements of dynamic power.  The prismatic
experiments of Frauenhofer, Kirchhoff, and Bunsen upon
the sublimates of various metals, and upon drops of saline
solutions illuminated or decomposed by electro-magnetic currents, while clearly confirming the correlation and equivalency
of all these different forms of force, and exposing the fact
that they are capable of reduction into final principles of
polarity and unity of origin-that is to say, that all forms
of abstract energy are reducible into those radicals of repulsion
and attraction which affect molecules with chemical and
mechanical power;-these experiments, while clearly indicating the correlations of electricity and magnetism  with all
elementary conditions of matter and force, and demonstrating
them to exist in the sun as positively and as universally as in
the earth, have led those illustrious physicists, nevertheless;
to the hasty and unfortunate speculations, that the sun itself
must be a boiling mass of metals, and its photosphere a
glowing envelope of overheated sublimates, similar to those
upon which they experimented; and that therefore that magnificent star, and consequently all the other stars of heaven,
so full of mechanical and useful creative energy, were not only
unfit to support life, but, furthermore, could never become fit,
until the light which gilds them  had been for cycles extinguished, allowing them  time to cool, &c.  In view of preceding data, relative to the thermic characteristics of our




CENITRdL FORCES AND CELEST'IL PHYSICS.   467
planet's surface, and the ejection of molten minerals thereupon, and to the action of telluric forces in generating atmospheric light independently of heat, we can now clearly and
safely infer that in a globe so large as the sun, with an atmosphere so capable of refulgence (a condition of matter similar
to that observable in- comets), its light must necessarily be
intense, and its electrified nebulous envelope become a veritable photosphere, whose property, as a light-giving fog, must
depend upon conditions of cold and condensation rather than
upon conditions of absolute incandescence.  All inductions
from the premises bring us back to the conclusions of Alexander Wilson, which have been confirmed by the observations
and opinions of Arago-an immortal scholar, from whose lucid
discourses and illustrations I remember to have received, in
1836, my first clear impressions of the physical aspects,
magnitude, and motions of the solar orb.
But at last the experiments of M. Edmund Becquerel have
lifted philosophy into ampler regions of induction: and while
they confirm the discoveries of Kirchhoff and Huggins relative to the identity in chemical constitution of all cosmic
bodies, thereby establishing bounds to knowledge in mcaterial
directions, they also show that the eletro-  electro-maetic elments.are absolute associates of every molecular action, however
infinitesimal or distant, engaged in the generation of light and
colour; thus identifying the correlation, convertibility, and
-conservation of force everywhere throughout nature.  More
even than this: by his experiments it may be shown that
electric currents, passing through quantities of water holding
any mineral salt, or any number of them, in solution, will,
in the evaporation effected by this action, not only generate
light without destructive heat, but also reveal, in the spectrum
of their aureolhe, the lines of every element, however minutely
subdivided, existing in this solution; thus divulging the exact
measure of mechanical force with which each element is
saturated, and the fixity of the laws which, governing the
vibratory functions of the various elements, stamp prismatic
pictures with those steadfast characters that not only indicate
HH2




468                 FORCE AND NATURE.
the compound nature of distant bodies, but also the separate
and separable existence and the eternal duration of their
atomic being.  The analogies and inferences with which this
discovery and the deductions therefrom are fraught, applied to
the mechanism by which light is generated in the sun or stars;.
and considered in view of all now known of equivalencies,
correlations, transformations, and conservation of force, point
to the probable conclusions, that the sun is enveloped with
luminous gases; that it is covered with vast saline oceans
similar to our own, possibly more composite; that its solid
surface, where exposed, may be habitable; that it is a world
of absolute utility to itself; that it is not bombarded with
meteors, to the certain destruction of everything having birth
in its airs and seas; and that its surface may be genial,
productive, and mildly  or brilliantly illuminated, without
necessarily being in a state of incandescence, or enveloped in
fiery vapours.
18.
General con-    Here, happily, we approach the boundaries in,
clusions.    physical directions, the alpha but not the omega,
of our patient studies and laborious task.  We see and learn
thus far, not only that the forces of attraction and repulsion
are, but also why it is necessary for them  to be, inseparable
associates of molecules and atomicities, and the parents of
electricity and magnetism, of heat and cold, of light and
darkness; and, furthermore, identical with the force of gravitation and that other force, the cosmical antagonist and
co-ordinate of gravitation, cosmical repulsion, a nomenclaturefor which the general term "radiation " might be substituted.
We see and learn that, while these two forces constitute
mechanical energy, or, as Mr. Rankine would call it, " potential
energy," mechanical energy is in turn a principle universally
compounded of, and resolvable into, these same two forces, both
in cosmic and molecular senses, and under all conditions ancv
circumstances whatsoever of aggregation or subdivision.




CENTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   469
Such, then, is mechanical force, which, quickened by Divine
Providence with subtle and inscrutable properties of subdivision, translation, and instantaneity, unites itself eternally
in fixed quantities with each element of matter; and driving
one molecule or one mass toward or away from  another,
thereby assumes secondary forms of force, developing motion
and heat, and transforming itself into that measurable function
called in rational mechanics mechanical power. Mechanical
power, as the term  is commonly used and practically considered, is really matter in motion incessantly seeking to
communicate its momentum, that is to say, its contained or
derived energy, to other matter. This, often aforetimne failing
of its ends in space, thereby generated those eccentric circuits
exhibited in the heavenly motions; and thus laid the foundations of that universal instability of equilibrium in nature
through w:ich central heat, universal light and life, and all
other present conditions of things exist, and by which alone
they can be maintained.  Mechanical force is the abstract
spiritual energy itself stored in the sun, stars, and planets,
as attraction and repulsion, the radical working agents in
general phenomena, and in creative design: agents convertible by vibratory translations through these masses into
light and colour, heat, magnetism, and electricity; and, associated with molecules, into endless actinic combinations and
molar phenomena, all of which are, indeed, only different
expressions of motion and dynamic energy, made manifest to
pure consciousness through nervous and ganglionic arrangements of the same molecules.  Thus is mind traceable to an
absolute connexion with matter; and vice versd.
19.
Cosmo-mechanical energy is, then, per se, and in the most
absolute manner, motive power; because it is a principle so
compounded and active as never to be at rest. Unequally




470               FORCE AND 1NATURE.
distributed among the elements in the beginning, it must for
ever remain so.  Confined in given quantities to each and
every world, as self-conserving stores of central force, its
components endeavour in vain to restore an equilibrium
among elements and masses already long lost, to exhaust an
inherent instability (so to speak), and gain rest: an effort
which ends in pushing these masses respectively around each
other and around their individual axes; in effecting internal
perturbations; and in urging molecules into various organic
forms, segmentations, and successions, under the guidance of
a formative intelligence-the true nis2us fornmativus-which,.
lying yet more profound, and everywhere immanent in, being
indeed the very soul of, nature, quickens all molecules with
a sensitive and vital animus. Thus gemmules, forms, and life
bud, unfold, blossom, germinate, die, and succeed each other.
in endless generations and dynasties upon the face of the'earth. Thus the repulsive forces of planets are employed
upon their exterior phenomena, both physical and morphological; while their attractive forces maintain the unity of
original design, restoring to the surface, or bringing back to
the centre, the material elements previously lifted therefrom.
In this manner the so-called "radiant heat" of the globe,
instead of- being lost in the atmosphere and wasted in space.
has been engaged in building up vegetable and animal
organisms upon the lands and in the waters; and in order to
accomplish the purposes of universal providence, has laid
them down again, and thus piled up the debris of successive
life and decay, the depths and diversified forms of which
indicate an antiquity in Nature defying calculation, and
setting at naught all the traditions of the ancients. Here
springs up the wondrous inductive truth, viz. that in the
evolutions of heat-that is to say, of mechanical force-from
the interior of the globe, which has been so busily employed
for countless cycles in fabricating those vast deposits in which
revels the paleontologist, the foundations have been laid upon
which rest all geographical and geological problems. While
the interior of the planet incessantly contributes its stores of




CEITRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PHYSICS            471
force to the mechanical work of its surface, insensibly radiating
and appropriating its motive power through every molecule
into plant and animal, the earth thus transforming itself into
a vast workshop, laboratory, mint, or productive machine, to
the useful end of adorning and populating its surface;-while
all this manifold and wondrous work is quietly proceeding day
and night upon the exterior, the force thus employed upon it
is furnished at the transient expense of the interior. The temporary transfer of repulsive force, constituting the important
radical of central heat, tends in turn to the shrinking of the
molten nucleus, and to the formation of vast voids below the
planet's crust. Cavities thus produced and filled with mineral
and metallic sublimates, atmospheric gases, or, through fissures
and leakage, with water and steam, afford conditions not only
for the frequent expression of those phenomena called " subterranean thunders" and for many quakings of the earth
in  consequence of dynamic perturbations of the nucleus
(Humboldt's "reaction of the interior upon the exterior"),
but also for the generation from cycle to cycle of such terrific
convulsions as end in subsidences or submersions of vast
areas of the planet's crust, effecting polar transpositions,
universal changes of the sea, and general sudden destruction
of existing organisms. The certainty of geological data sets
at naught the theories of those astronomers and mathematicians who persist in teaching that the poles of planets
are flattened by rotation, and that the surface of our globe
has never changed its relations to the plane of the ecliptic.
Through the causes just stated, which are even mathematically
demonstrable, the geographical aspects of the planet have
from time to time been profoundly altered, not by upheavals
of continents, but by their slow or sudden submergence, as
the different states of the interior have determined.  Taught
by leading authorities to believe the theory of upheavals, I
long ago doubted its correctness in consequence of personal
observations over immense expanses of the globe.  While
the debris and wide distribution of identical or analogous
organisms in the earliest palaeozoic ages indicate the general




4 72               FORCE VAND NATURE.
shallowness of universal seas, and a surprising littoral extension of the planet's surface, this shallowness and these
littoral extensions could not have existed without the coexistence of larger diameters and a larger circumference of the
planet itself. One fact follows the other as certainly as day
follows night; and the successive organic, geological, and
geographical changes as clearly follow  the consumption of
telluric heat on the earth's surface, as the productions of a
cotton-mill follow the consumption of water-power or coal.
The magnitude of these quantities it is for future science
to determine.  That oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers, plateaus,
mountain-ridges, watersheds, and  great river-basins, are
formed and outlined by the submersion of continents and
the simultaneous breaking up of vast areas of surface-in
other words, that general geographical conditions, as they
have variously existed in different geological ages, and as
they now exist, have been formed by subsidences and not
by upheavals-is as certain as the existence of the world
itself.  Mechanical energy, springing in currents, offshoots,
and impulses from the voluminous central forces of the pIlcnet,
and endowed with capacities of specialization for definite
purposes in order instantly to meet inductive demands, is
the basis of all events and the motive agent in all things.
Not even an insect can lift its wing, nor a hammer rise
and fall, nor a single molecule stir in the air, nor a cell
vibrate, without the influx and efflux of the requisite motive
forces which are connected with, and directly derived from,
the centre of the globe. And while repulsion lifts plants and
separates animals from  the surface of the earth in such a
manner as even to endow matter with locomotion; while it
is the occult agency in segregation, segmentation, growth, and
general creation; and while it may expand and lift the
atmosphere, the ocean, and even vast areas of the earth's
crust, shaking mountain-chains themselves in its periodic
throes; still gravitation levels and brings them all down
again, and fills the voids which the former has been instrumental in elaborating.




CEVNTIRUL FORCES AND_ CELESTIAL PHYSICS.   4' 3
20.
We have not reached these final and positive truths by any
a priori and theoretical method of treatment, assuming unknown or doubtful data, and then working our way through
processes of complex and problematical reasoning to uncertain
and incomplete results. We have not taken for granted any
of the thousand hypotheses which divert students at every
step from direct observations of nature, and which, on account
of the commanding positions of their authors or advocates,
lead often into paths of hallucination rather than into those
of solid philosophy, wasting mental power and years of toil,
and disappointing the highest of cultivated aspirations. We
commenced these investigations, tedious and uninteresting as
they have frequently appeared to be, by planting our steps
on certain fundamental facts which were wholly within our
grasp, and positively known as far as observation, experiment,
and logic can make anything satisfactory and conclusive to
the human mind.  Ascending step by step from MOLECULES
and the moleculagr FORCES of ATTRACTION and REPULSIONpoints determined by every method of analysis to be ENTITIES
embracing definite attributes and quantities, both physical
and algebraical, and governed by specific laws; avoiding
symbols, and developing the intricacies and connexions of
the various related fields in terms as simple and graphical as
the exactness of science would permit; we have at last
reached the culmination of our aim. We have seen with no
less satisfaction than surprise the gradual unfolding of a
great physical fact, viz. the subjugation and obedient behaviour
of all matter to two co-ordinate and opposing forces-a subjugation and obedience as sublime and infinite in their
ascending increments as they are infinitesimal, and yet never
vanishing in their descending series. Every molecule, every
element, every mass, wherever located or however surrounded,
is endowed with, and acted upon by, specific BUT UNEQUAL
quantities of attraction and repulsion; and thus all simul



474               FORCE 2ND NATURE.
taneously and necessarily become so many mechanical agents
in nature, whose internal phenomena, external interdependence, and general reactionary reciprocities are determined and
diversified by this very inequclity in distribution of both
matter and force. Herein is the hidden spring of mechanical
motion and mechanical power. Thus the cosmos was instituted in the beginning; and thus it must continue, time
without end.  In the beginning, whenever that was, light
and heat must have appeared with the origin of matter and
force.  In the end, if it ever come, all things will surely melt
with fervent heat.  Between these two uncertain, unknown,
and unknowable states-the past and the future —the present
certain, known, and knowable state exists.  It is the existing
condition of things which science must boldly explore and
faithfully unfold by the freest forms of inquiry: not so much
by speculating upon the possibilities of its origin; not at all
by setting up dogmas of faith or doubt about its end; not
by ignoring and warping truths in physics and psychology
in order to patronise or to reconcile academies and consistories; but by honestly tracing minutest, daily, simple
facts through observation, experiment, and induction to final
laws and the One Great First Cause. The wondrous creations of God may well allure the human mind into their
fathomless and cunning depths, and give rise to innumerable
conjectures.  But this mind of ours, while free to act, and
as illimitable in its immortal capacities as the Infinite Being
from which it springs, into which it flows, of which it never
ceases to be a part, and from which, indeed, it receives its
daily light and strength, is, nevertheless, limited by truth, and
can reach reliable information of the past or future only
through precise knowledge of the present. Existing in the
midst of time, space, and a universe of correlated objects;
constituted geometrically, mechanically, and chemically, both
in form and substance, out of the very principles and elements of which the earth and heavens are made-of these
and no others; it must be clearly seen that the physical and
intellectual forces which come and go and abide within our




CEiNTRAL FORCES AND CELESTIAL PI1'SICS.   4 7:
being are equally a part of Deity, as much as Deity is the
living Spring and a part of His universal works. The mission
of the sciences is, therefore, not only important because
simply practical and adapted to the refinements of social and
material civilization, but also sublime and transcendent over
all metaphysical dogmas, traditions, and dialectic pretensions,
because natural philosophy leads us to the only true and complete knowledge of the adorable Creator of the world. Where
the Divine spark may come, there let altars rise, and the
Vestals of eternal truth be charged to guard their sacred fires.




TIE plan of this work has embraced a series of discussions
to be developed in two other chapters.  The completion of
these has been postponed, however, on account of the illhealth of the author.
The twelfth chapter (when published) will treat of endosmosis, exosmosis, dialysis, and of organic force as a vital
principle, under the head of " COLLOIDAL FORCE," in which
the principles heretofore unfolded will be applied, it is hoped,
in a manner to lead to a better comprehension of the manner
in which the planet has been adorned and populated.
The thirteenth chapter is designed to embrace a treatment
of the Supreme Energy, in which the union of the physical
and metaphysical principles apparent or traceable in the
world will be presented from purely natural and scientific
points of view.
Although partly written, the health of the writer forbids
the  immediate  completion  of the treatises upon  these
subjects.




APPENDIX.
NOTE TO LINE 33, PAGE 224.
AN  examination  of my  catalogues having  exposed  the
record of a violent earthquake in Armenia on "the last
of August or first of September, 1859," the exact date not
appearing, I addressed a letter to Professor Perrey of Dijon,
to ascertain if his records could afford me the facts, which I
wished to present in connexion with the preceding phenomena.
His response is as follows:" Here is what I find in my various catalogues for the 31st
"August and the 1st and 2d September, 1859.
" Aug. 31.-5 A.M. a light shock at Gallipolis, Turkey. The
" same day, at 6.30 P.M., two strong shocks at Sophia, Turkey.
"A stone edifice at Tchoadjikhan was thrown down.  The
"direction of the shocks was from  S.W. to N.E., following
"the direction of the thermal waters of Sophia.
"At 12.30 A.M. of the 31st August, two very light shocks
" from  E. to S.W. were felt at Saint Pierre, Martinique, at
" short intervals and of short duration.
"Sept. 1. (Hour not indicated.)-A light shock at Laibach,
" Carniola.
" Sept. 2.-Light shocks at the Island of Ternate.  The' mountain has smoked only at intervals this month.
" During this month of September, earthquake shocks have
occurred daily at Minahassa, Celebes,-light at their conmencement.  I have the hours for the strongest only: 19th,
12.30 r.M.; 21st, 10 A.M.; 27th, 10.30 A.M."




478                FORCE AVD NJTURE
My own record contains the following printed notice of the
earthquake action recorded for the "last of August or first
of September:"-" Letters from Trebizond state that the town
" of Chirvan, in the government of Tiflis, had been buried
"under a mountain thrown on it by a recent earthquake."
Besides the above facts indicative of the violent " reaction
of the interior upon the exterior of the planet" at different
points, almost at the moment when Messrs. Carrington and
Iodgson were making their observations on the sun spots, I
find by my records, that the volcanic activity of the globe, as
a general fact, was remarkably great from  the middle of
August onwards for several weeks.
NOTE TO SECTION 13, CHAPTER IX. PAGE 184.
Since the last pages of this work have been in type I have
received from Professor Perrey his pamphlet, entitled " Propositions on Earthquakes and Volcanoes," at the end of which
lie has appended a memoir of great value to cosmical science:' On the frequency of earthquakes relatively to the moon's
"age, during the last half of the eighteenth century; and on
"the frequency of the phenomenon relatively to the meridional
"positions of the moon."
I have already.alluded to the magnitude and importance of
Professor Perrey's seismic studies; and have discussed his
theory with the candour which the present necessities of exact
science demand.  However we may differ in the interpretation of phenomena, his facts and his numerical results must
always remain a precious legacy to physical knowledge, and
an enduring monument of his prodigious labours. While no
one perhaps may be more indebted to him than myself for
his facts and numerical determinations, I will take this
opportunity not only to acknowledge his earlier and his
recent kindnesses, but also to present the reader with the
latest results of his computations, with which he has just
favoured me. It will be seen how distinctly his conclusions




APPENDIX.                          479 
bear upon our preceding discussions, and fortify the positions
reached in our chapter on " Cosmical Repulsion."
In the memoir alluded to, Professor Perrey, after stating
his methods of reducing his tables, says: " Finally, after' condensing again the results thus obtained  by the  new
"additions for the two  syzygies and  the two quadratures
"reunited, we find in the present memoir, from  A.D. 1751.
to 1800:
"For the Syzygies......          1901'18  Ear       e,"  Quadratures....            1753'82  Earth    e 
"Difference in favour of the Syzygie5  147 36.
" This result is in perfect accordance with those we have
reached  in our preceding  memoirs.   We found, indeed,' in 1847:" For the Syzygies...... 142094  Earthquake days.
"  uadratures....   1314-06
"Difference.              106'88.
" We found in 1853 that the number of 5,388 earthquake' days, calculated by the  first method  mentioned  in  this
" memoir, resulted as follows:"For the Syzygies...... 276148  Earthquake days.,-,  Quadratures.    262652   arthquak
"Difference in favour of the Syzygies  134-96.' And by the second method of computation, which gave the
"number 6,596, we had:"For the Syzygies......          3434'64  Earthquake days.,  Quadratures...    3161'36  t              q 
"Difference in favour of the Syzygies 273-28.
"We are then compelled to admit that earthquakes are
more frequent at the syzygies than  at the quadratures.' The conclusions that we have deduced from  our researches




480                  FORCE AJND NATURE.
" in 1853, and which we have tabulated for the half century,
" apply now to the whole century."
Professor Perrey, calculating still more closely, divides his
periods successively from  100 years and 50 years into terms
of 25 years and 10 years, and invariably reaches the same
results.   Carrying  them  still further, and  calculating  for
periods of 5 years, he finds 8 out of 10 periods giving a
preponderance of earthquake days to the syzygies.
"Nevertheless," he continues, "these results, the agreement
" of which is striking, and which indicate an influence linked
" with the moon's orbit, are not the only ones which we can
" present."  Carrying his computations more closely to the
days immediately connected with the periods of the perigee
and apogee, and dividing the earthquake days from  1751 to
1800 into two groups, he finds the following results:
"For the Perigee.......526                 rthquake days
Apogee....... 465~ t,,  Apogee                     465k   a
"Difference in favour of Perigee.  60-.
" For the Perigee...              3131 ),,  Apogee..                Earthquake days.
Apogee....... 278~
" Difference in favour of Perigee.  35."
"It is the same," he says, " which I found in 1847." Having,
obtained at great trouble and expense  several journals of
Italian earthquakes kept for long periods, he gives us also
their results, as follows:" At Monteleone  475 shocks when the Moon was near the MeridiLnm
and within 45~ of it.
"and        453 only when the Moon was more than 45~ froni
Meridian.
"Difference. 22 more when the Moon was nearest Meiidian.
"At Messina.   84 shocks when the Moon was nearest Meridian.
" and        60 when most remote from it.
" Difference   24 more when nearest Meridian,




APPENDIX.                          481
" At Catanzaro. 102 shocks nearest Meridian.
" and   81 when most remote from Meridian.
"21 shocks in favour of the meridional passage of the
Moon.
" At Scilla.. 140 shocks within 45~ of Meridian.
"and  120 when more remote from Meridian.
"20 shocks, always in favour of the passage of the
Moon at Meridian.
"Thus, notwithstanding the perturbations incident to these
"phenomena in their general aspects, we still find in the four
"positions indicated, that during the 3 h. 6 m. which precede
"the passages of the moon  at the superior and  inferior
"meridians, and  during  the 3h. 6m. which  follow  these
"passages, the shocks are more frequent than in the two
"other intermediate quarters of the lunar day."
From  another catalogue of earthquakes kept at Reggio
Calabria, M. Perrey deduced the following results:"Relative to the age of the Moon    At the Syzygies. 437 shocks,, Quadratures 349,,
"Difference in favour of the Syzygies... 88.
413 shocks when the Moon was 45~
"Relative to the passages of the       o    he n e Mn 
from the Meridian; and
Moon at the superior and in- 
fornat M he   su o    j 347 only when at a greater angular
ferior Meridians....           d
distance.
"Difference in favour of the pas-  66."
sages of the Moon at Meridian. i
Thus it will be seen that while all those data hold definite
and remarkable relations to the position of the moon in her
orbit, they connect themselves directly with the position of
the sun also.  While my eminent friend M. Alexis Perrey
endeavours to explain their occurrence and periodical intensities
upon the prevailing "Theory of the Tides," I regard them  in
the light of reactionary phenomena, and due to the influences
of repulsive, rather than of attractive, force.
I I




482               FORCE AND NATURE
Even if we consider for a moment the fearful convulsions
which have recently occurred in Peru and Equador, and which
extended their pulsating influences to California, Hawaii, and
even to Japan and Cochin China (13th to 20th August, 1868),
we shall perceive how legitimately they fall within the laws
of cosmo-dynamic action, which I have endeavoured to unfold
in the preceding work; and how they agree at the same time
with the observations both of Aristotle and Alexis Perrey.
The facts are well known that as the earth recedes from
perihelion, the moon's orbit contracts, so that at aphelion the
two bodies are much nearer together than at any other point
in either of their orbits; and, that when the earth descends
from aphelion to perihelion, a gradual change in their relative
positions begins and increases, so that when the earth is
nearest to the sun, the moon is most distant from the earth.
This remarkable perturbation in the lunar motions has
always been explained heretofore on the Newtonian hypothesis
of solar gravitation. And as a result of these motions, or in
some way connected with them, it has been observed by
Laplace, Adams, and others (as I have before stated), that the
rotary movements of the primary have been possibly retarded
from the  -o-th to the  Lth part of a second of time, in the
course of the last 2,000 years, while the motions of the earth
and moon together around the sun have nevertheless not been
in the slightest degree retarded or disturbed. As long ago as
1853 I endeavoured to explain this fluctuating phenomenon
in my first treatise on cosmical repulsion, as a result of the
reactionary processes taking place within the planet and
between the earth and moon during the successive movements
of the former from aphelion to perihelion, and from perihelion
to aphelion.
The recent terrific convulsions in South America, accompanied as they were by a sudden outburst of Vesuvius, and
by earthquakes in Mexico, Hawaii, and elsewhere, indicate an
unusual state of reactionary activity in the interior forces of
the planet while in the aphelic arc of its orbit. Observation
shows such perturbations to be not unfrequent.




APPENDIX.                     483
Now when it is reemembered that the relative position of
the earth to the moon and sun was such at the time mentioned
as to bring the equatorial points of these bodies to bear upon
each other with vertical directness ending in a solar eclipse,
and that the proximity of the satellite to the primary was
such as to excite that reaction in the latter, which, as I have
before shown, is expressed from the centre upon its surface
with eruptive results both in relation to the sun and moon, it
will be less surprising that the telluric convulsions referred
to were of so violent a character.
The cause of the slight retardation in the rotary motions
of our planet detected by Laplace, may perhaps lie in the
occasional spasmodic and transient backward impulses of the
sea produced by seismic reaction, rather than in the daily
ebb and flow of the tides, as of late conjectured by Mayer,
Delaunay, and others.








INDEX.








INDEX.
A.                       Bode's law, 196., 1,   Bond, Messrs., the Cambridge astronoACTION  and  reaction, laws of,          119,, 211
*.'^ ^^120.t          Boscovich, Joseph, his work on natural
Adams, Mr., calculations of, 264-268,          philosophy, 7-9.
Aroie p. robable.. oin of 14         Bunsen, discoveries of, 233, 237, 340.
Aerolites, probable origin of, 144.
Ampere, theory of, with  respect to
magnetism, 369, 374.                                         C.
Anaxagoras, observations of, 329.
Anaximander, observations of; 326.          CAPILLARY attraction, 67.
Andes, electrical observations on, 253.    Carbon, properties of, 291, 292.
Animals, living force in, 329, 365, 382-   Carrington, Mr., observations of the
384.,                sun,  221, 222, 421.
Appendix-Professor Perrey's observa-   Ceres, atmosphere of, 195.
tions on earthquakes, 475-481; re-   Charcoal,  its  absorbing  power,  &c.
marks on, 482, 483.                         293.
Arago, his cosmical researches, 149,   Chemical, the, conditions of simple and
196, 208; study of the stellar bodies,      compound bodies depending on force,
230, 467.                                   287; affinities of bodies depending
Archimedes,  and  Newton, on  force,           on the two great forces, 343-345.
284.                                      Chinese, their records of comets, 134.
Aristotle, view  of matter, &c. 16, 46,   Circumcision, a rite similar in result to,
49, 79; his record of facts respecting      in  the  islands, &c. of the Pacific
earthquakes confirmed, 183, 331.            Ocean, 204
Atomic theory, 46-48, 51-53.                Coan, Rev. Titus, observations of, with
Attraction (see Molecules, 57-59), cha-        respect to volcanoes, 101.
racter and action of, 60, 61 (see Force);   Cohesion, property of embracing " elasmassive  attraction, 69; molecular,         ticity," "stress," "strain," &c. 290;
84-87; power of, 118.                       its  change  in  the  conditions  of
Auroras, terrestrial, intense light of,       gases, 310, 311.
452; causes of, ib.                       Combustion, causes of, in gunpowder,
nitro-glycerine, &c. 292, 293.
B.                       Comets (see Donati), appearance of, in
different positions, 125-128; agitaBACON, philosophy of, 398.                    tion of, when in perihelia, 128; the
Becquerel, Ml. E., important experi-          forces that lead  to  it, 128-131;
ments of, 467.                              Biela's comet, 131; observations of,
Bessel, his observations on the appear-        132, 133; observations of, by Demoance of Halley's comet, 19-22, 37,          critus, Ephorus, Kepler, and others,
140.                                        including the Chinese, 134; division
Biela's comet, 131-133.                        of, into parts, &c. ib., 134, 137, 140,
Black, Mr., observations of, 330.             145-148, 392.




488                                    IN  )EX.
Copernicus, 76, 85, 86, 326, 395.              Belgium, &c. 163; in the Basin of
Cosmo-mechanical energy, motivepower,          the Rhone, 164; in the Basin of the
469-472.                                    Rhine, &c. 165; in the Basin of the
Cotopaxi, volcano, 100; eruption  of,          Danube, 166; in the Italian Penin106.                                        sula, &c. 167; in Algeria, &c. 168;
Crystallization, the result of the corn-       in the Lucco-Hellenic territory, ib.;
pound action of molecular attraction        in the United States and Canada,
and repulsion, 97 (see Rocks); the          169; in Mexico and Central America,
force that produces it, 109, 110, 261-      170; in the Antilles, ib.; in Chili,
264, 290.                                   &c. 172; resucme  of earthquakes in
Crystallogeny, 49, 288-290.                    Europe, &c. from  A.D. 306 to 1843,
Crystals, formation of, 242, 243.              173; earthquakes in different zones,
Cyclone, a, preceded  by a luminous            174, 175; general results, 175; relaappearance of the sea, 456.                 tive frequency of season, ib.; relative frequency at the equinoxes and
D.                         solstices, 176; M. Poey's observations, the earthquakes of Cuba, 177,
DANA, opinions as to space, 35.                178; total number of earthquakes,
Daniel, Mr., his electrical experiments        classified by months, 180-183; the
377.                                        author's observations, 184-187; obDavy, opinion of heat as "motion,"             servations of Von Tschudi, in Peru,
299.                                        189; of Mrs. Sarah J. Lyman, at
Delaunay,  M.,  on  lunar influences,          Hawaii, 190; of Mr. J. W. Widdi265, 266.'                                  field, at Petropaulasli, 191; of M.
Democritus, his account of a comet,            Victor Provost, Isle of Bourbon, ib.;
134.                                        of Dr. Schlagintweit, in "High Asia,"
Descartes, conjectures as to planetary         192; Aristotle's observations, 331,
perturbation, 35, 36, 68.                    332; the author's observations, 332,
Diamond, properties of repulsion  in,          333;  onnexion of, with  magnetic
291.                                        disturbances, 424; earthquake in the
Donati, his comet, 23-27; his observa-         West Indies, 458.
tion, 86; his  comet observed  by    Electricity (see Magnetism), nature, &c.
Messrs. Bond, 128.                          of, 342, 343; duality of, 347-349,
Dynamical force, 89, 120; electricity,         35, 356 (see Galvanism); identity
121.                                        of, with magnetism, 358; the dynaDynamical laws, analogous in  their            mical counterparts of each other, 374
action, 361; curious facts in con-         (see Lightning and Ignes Fatui).
nexion with, 362-364.                     Empedocles, observations of, 326, 329,
331, 393, 395.
Encke, Mr. J. F., observations on
E.                         comets, 35-38, 431.
Energy, absolute, 252.
EARTH, the, 146; forces in, 146-149;   Ephorus, a Greek historian, his account
theory of lunar attraction, 149, 150;      of a comet, 134.
opinion  respecting its former size,   Erebus, volcano, 100.
204; one vast storehouse of potential   Etna, eruption of, 106, 107.
energy, 261; retardation of rotatory    Euler (see Kepler), 18.
motion of, 265; original condition of,
436; the earth  and solar system,
motion of, at a rapid rate, to a dis-                        F.
tant part of the heavens, 450.            FARADAY, Michael, opinions as to the
Earthquakes, effects of molecular repul-       nature of space, 34, 86; magnetic
sive force, 99; observations and defi-      experiments, 117, 225, 323-326, 330,
nitions of, 140-144; theory of lunar        394, 395, 440.
attraction, 149; M. Perrey's and Mr.   Faye, M., observations on comets, 23Mallet's observations, 156; in Scan-        27.
dinavia, &c. 160; in British Islands   Force (see " Matter," and "Union, &c.
and  Northern  Isles, 161; in  the          of Matter and Force"); force of attracSpanish Peninsula, 162; in France,          tion, 61-63; Newton's views of, ib.;




I1sD EX.                                   48 9
units of attraction by molecular force,       80-82; limitation of, 84; law of, in
63; illustrations of, 64-66; the secret       tides,  150-154, 214, 215; not an
of the cementing and consolidation            abstract  attractive  force,  278  (see
of rocks, &c., 67-69; nature of, 71,          Apple).
72; the force of repulsion, 73; New-   Gravity, specific, 70.
ton's view of, 74, 75; force alone the
motive power of all things, 87; lies
at the basis of nature, 88; the two                            H.
forces equal, 90 (see Crystals; also
Earthquakes and Volcanoes);  force    HALE-A-KA-LA, extinct volcano, sunthe life of matter, 108 (see Attraction;     rise seen from, 216.
also Repulsion); undeniable agency    Halley's comet, observations on, 19of the two forces, 134, 135; rays of,         22.
from  the solar mass, 237-242; uni-   Hansen, calculations of, 264-268.
versality  of the law  of, 245; the    Harding, Mr., planetary observations,
corner-stone of the new  philosophy           199.
laid, 246, 247 (see Mechanical Force,   Hawaii, observations at, 101.
Creation, and Man); force alone, and    Heat, loses much  of the importance
not matter, in  any  wise produces            formerly attached to it as a fundachemical conditions, 287.                     mental  principle,  280-282,  286;
Foucault, M., experiments of, 377.              opinions, &c., of Locke, Rumford,
Franklin, observations of, 330.                 Davy, Liebig, &c., 298-300, 306, 307,
Frauenhofer, 233, 237; lines of, on the         311, 312 (see Mechanical Force); heat
spectrum, 242-244, 340, 341, 430.             as a mode of motion, 401-403; cenFriction and impact, experiments with,          tral heat, causes of, 406, 408, 409;
347, 348, 351-355; no  force con-             central heat of the globe, 409, 410;
sumed by, 370; friction and impact            heat and light, emissions of, 428;
equivalent agents, 407.                       relations of heat and darkness, 442.
Hegel, 398.
Helmholtz, 35.
G.                        Heraclitus, views  of cosmic  motion,
329; doctrine of love and hate in
GALTLEO, 77.                                    bodies, 331.
Galvanism, capacities of, 357-361.            Herschel, Sir John, observations of, in
Gases, nature of, 92-94, 110; crystal-          the southern hemisphere, 42-44; on
lization  of, 262; oxygen absorbed,           the size of Pallas, 195.
&c., in spongy platinum, 293; hy-   Herschel, Sir William, his observations
drogen, muriatic gas, &c., ib.; oxygen       of thesolarspots,423;hisimportantdisstored and latent in the spongy metal,        covery that the solar system is moving
295; consequences of exposure to a            towards the  constellation Hercules,
current of hydrogen, 304-306; phe-            450.
nomenon of hydrogen molecules rush-    Hipparchus, 85; lunar observations of,
ing  among  oxygen  ones,  307  (see          265, 267.
Steam); immense attractive and re-   Hooke, Dr.  Rlobert, observations  on
pulsive force in hydrogen and oxygen,         comets, &c., 14-18.
314; the force exerted does not cause    Horrox, 79.
any loss either to the molecules of the    Huggins and Miller, spectrum  observagases, or of the substance in which           tions of, 230.
the force has been exerted, 315-317,   Humboldt, Baron, definition of earth452.                                          quakes, 141.
General conclusions, 468.                     Hydrogen (see Gases).
Geological aspects of the earth, 388.
Gold and platinum, experiments with,
91; attraction in, 291.                                        I.
Gravitation, 59 (see also Attraction);
its character and action, 69, 70; sup-   Ignes fatui, observations  of, by the
posed to be the only force, 75; gran-        author, in South America, 461-463.
deur of Newton's  conceptions, 77,   Inertce, vis, views of, 47, 48.
80; nature of the Newtonian theory,   Introductory, 1-31.
K K




490                                   INDEX.
J.                         secondary force, 311; duality of, 355,
JOULE, Dr., discoveries of, 39, 206,           356 (se Electricity and Galvanism)
300; influence of, 301, 394, 427.           dynamic properties, &c., of, 235.
Juno, planet, 198.                          Mallet,  Mr.  Robert,  definition  of
Jupiter, planet, 206-209.                      earthquakes, 141, 142; observations
Jupiter, planet, 206-209.                      of, 156-' 3.
of, 156-183.
K.                       Mars, planet, 206, 416.
Matter, derivation of the term, 16; the
KANT, philosophy of, 398.                     opposite of vacuum, 41; known forms
Kekule's idea of saturation, 254, 288,         of, ib.; is obviously a result of con340, 437.                                   densation from  remoter regions, 44;
Kepler, his opinion as to  the  sun's          primary conditions and relations of
light, 18; his work, 77; opinion as         molecules, 45 (see Union, &c., of
to the comet of 1618, 134, 395.             Matter and Force); nature of, 71;
Kirchhoff, 233, 237, 326, 395, 423, 430,       no atom of, can be lost or escape the
432.                                        influence of the rest, 250; matter
Kluge, observations of, 220, 424.              and force, affinity of, 255.
Kreil, Dr., observations of, 424.           Mauna Loa, volcano, 101; eruptions of,
101-106.
L.                       Mayer, discoveries of, 39, 226, 299; influ-'.Prfssr oence of his discoveries, 301, 323, 330,
LAMONT, Professor, opinion  of, as to          394  395; his theory of solar heat
the  centre of the  earth, 99; dis-         400-403 427.
coveries of, 219, 220.                    M00a03,427
coveries of, 219, 220.                    Mechanical  force,  and   mechanical
Laplace, views with respect to matter,        poe, difference of, 248  nature of
43, 77, 209-212; calculations as to         mechanical force, 248-251;  as  abthe  retarded  motion of the earth,         stract enery,  &c., 252;  whence
265-268, 372, 395.                          derived, 253-255 (see Motion, &c.) 
Lava, burning, aspect and character-           mechanical and cosmical motion the
istics of, 427.                             same, 270; definite character of the
Leibnitz, 7, 49, 77, 79; opinion of the        forces that cause  e earth's r      ottion
centre of the earth, 9,  371.    h          267, 268, 272-275; neither heat nor
Liebig, Baron, 30, 49, 86; on  et,             cold the true vis vivaf,  280  (see
300, 318-321, 384, 386-388.                 cold the true vis viva of, 280  (see
300, 318-321, 384, 386-388.                 Gases); heat, light,  electricity, and
Light, polarization of, 230; zodiacal,        magnetism, secondary forces, 311
301, 302; a secondary force, 311;           generation of, 336; disturbance  of
cosmic light, 430, 441, 442; relations      equilibrium, 339; the  force of a
of light and cold, 442; the source of       moving body internal as well as exlight, 444; emitted by insects, 464.        ternal, 361-368  terrestrial origin of
Lighttning, curious facts in colnnexion        local displays of, 379; conversion
with, 458-460.                              into secondary force in organic bodies,
Locke, his definition of heat, 298, 398.       380   passing through space, 414; no
Lucretius, his poem  " De Rerum  NaLucretius, his poem  "  De Relum  Nl-         loss of, on the earth, for more than
tura," 11-13                                two thousand years, 415.
Luminous appearance of the sea (see   Mechanical law, root and causation of,
Radiation); of steam, 454; of the sea,      369
455; curious fact respecting, in the   Mechanical powers, 252-254.
polar regions, 456.                       Mechanics, rational, science of, 251.
Lumpkin's lights, 463.                      Mercury, the planet, 416.
Lunar attraction, theory of, 149, 150.      Microscopic  motion (see Motion  and
Lunar surface, 203; aspect and consti-         Positions).
tution of, 204-206.                       Mind (see Inertia); elemental mind, 46.
Lyell, Sir Charles, on volcanic activity,   Molecules (see Matter); force in, 48,
188.                                         49; central life in, 51; shape of,
Lyman, Mrs. Sarah, 190.                       impossible to define, 51-53; molecular force, 54-56; molecules, attrac-'M.                        tion and repulsion, 57-59 (see also
MAGNETIC storm, 220-225.                       Force); molecular repulsion  in its
Magnetism,  production  of, 116; a            sensible and cosmical developments,




INDEDEX.                                  491
82, 83; limitation of the attractive    Philosophical inquiry  and  discovery,
power of, 84; sensitive points, the           new era of, 466.
working material of force, 89; illus-   Philosophy, new, corner-stone of, laid,
trations of, 91-98; molecular action          246.
incessant in the earth, 146; objec-   Planets, the, action of the laws of, 125
tions to the molecular theory, 201,           (see Earth), 194-196, 198-201, 206212; force of their action in optics,         213.
236-241 (see Motion, &c., and Crea-   Platinum  and gold, experiment with,
tion); no motion could exist in mole-         91; spongy absorbing oxygen, 115,
cules themselves, inert and affected          293; exposed to a current of hydroby  attraction  alone, 282-284  (see          gen, 115, 293, 304-306.
Powers).                                   Plato, speculations of, 49, 79.
Moon (see Lunar Surface); changes in,   Poey, M., his observations  of earth416.                                          quakes, 177, 178.
MIorphology, 49; morphological period    Polarity (see Motion, &c.); the principle
of the earth, 204.                            of the great dual law, 258, 259, 347Mossotti, 34.                                   351.
Motion, and polarity, 256; motion of   Polarization (see Light, &c.).
molecules producing force, ib.; mi-   Positions, two positive, microscopic and
croscopic motion, 259-261; conver-            cosmical, 268, 269.
sion by, of mechanical energy, into    Powers, the two great, of the universe,
secondary forces, 276-279 (see Crea-          attraction and repulsion of molecules
tion); motion in crystallization, &c.,       (see Force, Molecules, and Mechanical
285.                                          Force); two living forces in physical
Muriatic acid gas (see Gases).                  nature, 283.
Principles of the work, general applicaN.                          tion of, 388.
Provost, M., 191.
NEWTON, his disposition  and  work,   Provost, Mam., 19
1, 2; his letter to Boyle, 9-11; his    Pyhagoras, 36.
view of inertia, 46-48 (see Attraction
and Force; also Gravitation); his view
of the law of action and reaction, 119,   RADIATIONon the waters of the ocean,
120; of Kepler's discoveries, &c., 208       canses and appearance of, 111-113.
(see Archimedes),  395;  Newtonian i       Rankine, Professor, on the "Outlines
system of solar heat, 400.                    of Science of Energetics,' 28, 29,
Nichol, Professor, on Bessel's observa-  
tions on comets, 22.                       Repulsion (see Molecules, 57-59, Attraction, Force, and Radiation); as defi0.                          nite and general as gravitation, and
()BJECTIONS, referred to, 412-420.              in connexion with  molecules, 116;
Oersted, discoveries  of, in  dynamic            power of, 118; cosmical  epulsion,
electricity, 121, 261.                        122 (see Creation, and Diamond).
Organic life, force in, 365, 380; dual          ocs, and minerals, amorphous condiprinciples in, ib.; derivation of the         tio    of,  abortive  crystallizations,
force, 384-386; Liebig's views of,            98 
386-388.                                             i
386-388.                                   Rue, De la, Mr., 214; opinions witlh
Oxygen (see Gases).                             respect to lunar motion, 266.
Ruhmkorff, M., experiments of, 377.
P.                        Rnumford, Count, opinion of heat, &c.,
299, 330, 395.
PALLAS, different measurements of, 195,
198.                                                           S,
Pendulum, the, its motion, resulting
from conflicting forces, 115.              SABINE, Mr., 219, 421.
Perrey, M. Alex., his theory of a molten    Salts, nitre  or Glauber, experiments
nucleus within  the  earth's  crust,          with, 318, 319.
149; his valuable researches into the   Saturn, the planet, 206-213, 217; rings
nature of earthquakes, 156-183.               of, 301, 302.




492                                    INDEY.
Schafhaiutl,  Professor, theory  of the                          T.
earth's centre, 99., 7 
Schlagirntweit, Dr., 192.                    THALS,  79, 85.
Schwabe, Mr., 219  421.                      Thomson,  Sir  William,  his  phrase
Secondary forces (see Mechanical Force).         energy of position," 293; observaSeneca, opinion of, with respect to a           tions on solar heat, 403.
comet, 134.                                Thunderbolts, causes of, 330.
Solar and terrestrial observations corn-   Tidal movements, 1             
pared, &c., 425; the sun, 426; na-   Tides, theory   of, 150;  difficulty  in
ture and heat of lava, 427; the com-              ing the, acco   with facts, 15
parison applied to the sun, 428, 429.        i56
Solar spots, &c., Mr. Carrington's oh-   Tscud, Von, 189
servations of, 421; observations, of   Tvnlall, observations of, 330; lecture
others, 422-424.                             on heat as a mole of motion, 401Solar system, its motion to a different         403, 408, 409.
part of the heavens, 450.
Space, absolute,  33; origin  of, ib.;                           U
opinions respecting, as to its consist-   UJIoN  and  inseparability  of matter
ing  of  ether, 33-35;  an  infinite         and force, 57-59.
vacuum, 38; before "creation," 275;   Universe, response of one part of, to
objections to this view of, 413; tern-       any commotion in any other part,
perature and luminosity of, 433, 434.        however distant, 411.
Spectral analysis, as a means of chemical
discovery, 232-236. 
Spectrum  observations, 230-232; solar
spectrum, bands in, 237, 242-244.          VACUUJM, really  abhorred by nature,
Speculative thought, and scientific ac-         368, 411.
quirement, history of, 1-5.               Venus, planet, 206, 416, 454.
Sponge, elastic properties of, 94.           Vesuvius, eruption of, 106, 107.
Spots, in the Antarctic heavens, 42; on    Volcanoes, the product of force  and
the sun, 215-218.                            repulsion, 100; accounts of, 100Stahl, M., 330.                                 108.
Stars, the, 228, 229; discoveries  of                            W
Arago, with respect to, 230.
Steam, production of, 312-314; electric   WATER, principle of repulsion in relaenergy of, 254, 255.                         tion to, 94; production of, by gases,
Stewart, Mr. Balfour, 214.                     304 —306; as a motive power, 311Stone, Mr., his calculations as to the          313.
magnitude of the asteroids, 196.           Water-spouts, cause of, 113, 114.
Struve, observations in  the northern    Wheatstone, observations of, in  elechemisphere, 42.                              trical science, 343.
Sun, the, density, &c., of, 214, 215;   Widdifield, Mr. (see Earthquakes).
spots on, 215; sunrise,  216, 217;   Wind-balls, curious effect of, in destroysingular  appearance  of, 221-224;           ing life, 362, 363.
magnetic storms on, ib.; calculations   Winslow, Dr. C. F., "On the Causes of
as to increase of heat of, by the fall       Tides, Earthquakes, &c.," 179.
into of asteroids on the earth, 401-   Wolf, Mr., observations of, 219, 421.
403; evidence of alternate agitations,    Work, the, plan of, 475.
and comparative quiescence in, 423;
causes of heat and light in, 427-429;                         Z.
lmagnitude of, 450; chemical constitution of the sun and earth similar,   ZODIACAL light, &c., causes of, 3(1,
ib.                                          302.
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, BREAD STREET HTTLL.