Force and nature : attraction and repulsion : the radical principles of energy, discussed in their relations to physical and morphological developments / by Charles Frederick Winslow.

Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Force and nature : attraction and repulsion : the radical principles of energy, discussed in their relations to physical and morphological developments / by Charles Frederick Winslow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    as well as attracted; but this idea, like many other true con- ceptions, even that of gravitation, was lost in the midst of his perplexities and doubts, and the sublime novelties which almost bewildered him. 10. The illustrations by which repulsion may be most clearly set before the understanding may be presented in two forms : indirectly, so as to develop it by way of comparison; and directly, so as to make it appreciable by positive demonstra- tion. Gold and platinum are among the simplest substances. Their physical characteristics are great density, specific gravity, malleability, and ductility, with small elasticity, and these characteristics distinguish them from everything else in nature. I select these substances therefore from all others, for the purpose of illustrating the abstract existence of attraction, so that repulsion may be the better compre- hended by comparison when afterwards referred to. Their malleability and ductility clearly indicate such tenacity of cohesion between molecules, as to exhibit the principle of attraction almost, if not altogether, separated from repulsion in this condition of matter. This is a display of pure mole- cular attraction, while their density shows the same form of force, abounding and concentrated in masses, drawing their particles into closer juxtaposition. Their exceeding gravity is an expression of the same force, responding to similar force in the earth itself; in other words, pure gravitation—mutual attraction acting according to the Newtonian law of direct proportion to sums of atoms, as heretofore described. Their want of elasticity proves absence of molecular repulsion; their minimum fusibility (at least that of platinum), the great difficulty even to impress upon their particles the repul- sive principle known to exist in heat, either as chemical or mechanical force.