1. On Dr Wollaston's Argument from the limitation of the Earth's Atmosphere as to the Finite Divisibility of Matter

Extract

The author commenced by stating at some length, the nature of Wollaston's argument, the object of which was to affirm that the limitation of the earth's atmosphere justified the conclusion, that the air consists of indivisible particles or true atoms. He then discussed the opinions which have been offered by Daubeny, Dumas, Whewell, and others, as to the validity of Wollaston's conclusion, and stated that the special object of his communication was to shew that the inference from the existence of a limit to the atmosphere, that matter is only finitely divisible, is quite unwarranted.