26

G26

One was Bernouilli's kinetical theory of gases; since Boyle and
others seem to have had but vague notions of the nature of the "elater"
of air. The other was far more wonderful, because it seemed, for
generations, to have nothing positively in its favor: I mean Dalton's
atomic theory. It was said to be based on law of simple multiple
proportions; but there was nothing in it to show why a thousand atoms
of hydrogen should not as well attract a thousand and one of chlorine
as an exact thousand. We can har It would be hardly fair to reckon
as many as half-a-dozen independent conceptions of the constitution

G26

One was Bernoulli's kinetical theory of gases; since Boyle and others seem to have had but vague notions of the nature of the "elater" of air. The other was far more wonderful, because it seemed, for generations, to have nothing positively in its favor: I mean Dalton's atomic theory. It was said to be based on law of simple multiple proportions; but there was nothing in it to show why a thousand atoms of hydrogen should not as well attract a thousand and one of chlorine as an exact thousand. It would be hardly fair to reckon as many as half-a-dozen independent conceptions of the constitution