Considerations regarding more complex phenomena, for
instance the phenomena of electricity by contact, and also the kinetic
theory of gases, bring us to the same conclusion.
The idea of the discontinuity of matter forces itself upon us for many
other reasons. All modern chemistry is founded on this principle; and
laws like the law of multiple proportions, introduce an evident
discontinuity to which we find analogies in the law of electrolysis.
The elements of bodies we are thus brought to regard might, as regards
solids at all events, be considered as immobile; but this immobility
could not explain the phenomena of heat, and, as it is entirely
inadmissible for gases, it seems very improbable it can absolutely
occur in any state. We are thus led to suppose that these elements are
animated by very complicated movements, each one proceeding in closed
trajectories in which the least variations of temperature or pressure
cause modifications.
The atomistic hypothesis shows itself remarkably fecund in the study
of phenomena produced in gases, and here the mutual independence of
the particles renders the question relatively more simple and,
perhaps, allows the principles of mechanics to be more certainly
extended to the movements of molecules.
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