Page:On the various forces of nature and their relations to each other.djvu/56

52 every other solid—they are all held together in the lump by the attraction between their parts), and I can shew you the attraction between its separate particles; for if I take these portions of glass, which I have reduced to very fine powder, you see that I can actually build them up into a solid wall by pressure between two flat surfaces. The power which I thus have of building up this wall is due to the attraction of the particles, forming as it were the cement which holds them together; and so in this case, where I have taken no very great pains to bring the particles together, you see perhaps a couple of ounces of finely-pounded glass standing as an upright wall. Is not this attraction most wonderful? That bar of iron one inch square has such power of attraction in its particles—giving to it such strength—that it will hold up twenty tons weight before the little set of particles in the small space, equal to one division across which it can be pulled apart, will separate. In this manner suspension bridges and chains are held together by the attraction of their particles; and I am going to make an experiment which will shew