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the foregoing pages we have assumed that all things are made up of very little bits, called atoms. This view of the nature of matter is purely conjectural, but it agrees so well with the truths revealed by Science, that we must admit it to be highly probable. Let us descend for a while from the realms of imagination, and lay before our reader the facts upon which the beautiful theory of atoms is based.

The word "atom" is derived from the Greek language, and signifies "that which cannot be cut,"—a very appropriate term, for an atom being the smallest possible particle of a substance, must necessarily be indivisible. The existence of half an atom is inadmissible, because the mind cannot form an idea of a particle smaller than the smallest.

Philosophers are divided in their opinions respecting the nature of the ultimate particles of matter: some maintain that they are hard and solid,