Page:Conservationofen00stew.djvu/23

Rh of being beyond the direct scrutiny of the human senses—the one set because they are so far away, and the other because they are so small.

10. Again, these molecules are not at rest, but, on the contrary, they display an intense and ceaseless energy in their motions. There is, indeed, an uninterrupted warfare going on—a constant clashing together of these minute bodies, which are continually maimed, and yet always recover themselves, until, perhaps, some blow is struck sufficiently powerful to dissever the two or more simple atoms that go to form a compound molecule. A new state of things thenceforward is the result.

But a simple elementary atom is truly an immortal being, and enjoys the privilege of remaining unaltered and essentially unaffected amid the most powerful blows that can be dealt against it—it is probably in a state of ceaseless activity and change of form, but it is nevertheless always the same.

11. Now, a little reflection will convince us that we have in this ceaseless activity another barrier to an intimate acquaintance with molecules and atoms, for even if we could see them they would not remain at rest sufficiently long to enable us to scrutinize them.

No doubt there are devices by means of which we can render visible, for instance, the pattern of a quickly revolving coloured disc, for we may illuminate it by a flash of electricity, and the disc may be supposed to be stationary during the extremely short time of the flash