It is in order to recognise this right that
several physicists--M. Langevin, for example--ask that atoms be
promoted from the rank of hypotheses to that of principles. By this
they mean that the atomistic ideas forced upon us by an almost
obligatory induction based on very exact experiments, enable us to
co-ordinate a considerable amount of facts, to construct a very general
synthesis, and to foresee a great number of phenomena.
It is of moment, moreover, to thoroughly understand that atomism does
not necessarily set up the hypothesis of centres of attraction acting
at a distance, and it must not be confused with molecular physics,
which has, on the other hand, undergone very serious checks. The
molecular physics greatly in favour some fifty years ago leads to such
complex representations and to solutions often so undetermined, that
the most courageous are wearied with upholding it and it has fallen
into some discredit. It rested on the fundamental principles of
mechanics applied to molecular actions; and that was, no doubt, an
extension legitimate enough, since mechanics is itself only an
experimental science, and its principles, established for the
movements of matter taken as a whole, should not be applied outside
the domain which belongs to them.
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