X.—On Wollaston's Argument from the Limitation of the Atmosphere, as to the Finite Divisibility of Matter

Abstract

In the year 1822, Dr Wollaston published a remarkable paper “on the finite extent of the atmosphere.” Its object is to establish, by observations on the motions of certain of the heavenly bodies, that our atmosphere does not extend into free space, and to deduce from this limitation in its extent, the conclusion, that the air necessarily consists of particles “no longer divisible by repulsion of their parts;” i. e. of true atoms. From this there is the further inference, that, “since the law of definite proportions discovered by chemists, is the same for all kinds of matter, whether solid or fluid, or elastic, if it can be ascertained that any one body consists of particles no longer divisible, we then can scarcely doubt that all other bodies are similarly constituted.” In other words, the existence of a limit to the earth's atmosphere is declared to supply a demonstration of the finite divisibility of matter.