Modern science rediscovered the atoms of Democritus, analysed the
universe into innumerable swarms of these tiny particles, and
then showed how the infinite variety of things could be built up
by their combinations. For this it was necessary to suppose that
the atoms were not all alike, but belonged to a large number of
different classes. From twenty-six letters of the alphabet we
could make millions of different words. From forty or fifty
different "elements" the chemist could construct the most varied
objects in nature, from the frame of a man to a landscape. But
improved methods of research led to the discovery of new
elements, and at last the chemist found that he had seventy or
eighty of these "ultimate realities," each having its own very
definite and very different characters. As it is the experience
of science to find unity underlying variety, this was profoundly
unsatisfactory, and the search began for the great unity which
underlay the atoms of matter. The difficulty of the search may be
illustrated by a few figures. Very delicate methods were invented
for calculating the size of the atoms. Laymen are apt to
smile--it is a very foolish smile--at these figures, but it is
enough to say that the independent and even more delicate methods
suggested by recent progress in physics have quite confirmed
them.
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