William Bower Taylor

“ This theory of cohesion is then set forth at some length, the fundamental assumption being that there are two classes of dynamic monads occupying the universe, the one in a state of relative repose, exhibiting the various phenomena of attraction, and commonly called the ponderable elements, and the other class entirely free or independent, (improperly called imponderable elements,) actuated with extreme velocities of translation, of rotation, and of vibration, continually traversing the systems of ponderable monads in all directions. ”

“ The apparatus exhibited consisted essentially of a magnet attached to a pendulum which produced motion in small iron bullets suspended a short distance therefrom.
In an editorial resume of Seguin's wonk on "Molecular Physics," in Abbe Moigno's Cosmos, in 1852, the Abbe, after alluding to Newton's speculations, affirms with characteristic confidence and earnestness : " If there is anything certain in the world, it is that the molecules of bodies and bodies themselves are not really self-attractive; it is that attraction is not an intrinsic but only a developed force ”

“ In order to assign to them the condition either of a solid, a liquid, or a gas, it is necessary to suppose the existence and the combination of two forces which are sometimes in equilibrio, and sometimes predominate the one over the other. ”

“ And it is with these two great facts of inertia and movement that advancing science shall ultimately explain all the phenomena of the physical world. Already courageous thinkers have endeavored to explain by inertia and motion the great, the capital fact of universal attraction, but these explanations are neither so distinctly formulated nor so plausible as to enable us to give a correct idea of them." Abbe Moigno, as Seguin's interpreter, proceeds ”