Kinetic Conception of Molecular Motion.—The idea of this peculiar form of motion is by no means new to us. We were familiarized with it in scientific theories during our school days. The atomic theory teaches us that matter behaves, from a chemical point of view, as if it were divided into molecules and atoms. The kinetic theory explains the constitution of gases and the effects of heat by supposing that these particles are endowed with movements of rotation and displacement. The wave theory explains photic phenomena by supposing peculiar vibratory movements in a special medium—the ether. But these are merely hypotheses which are not at all necessary; they are the images of things, not the things themselves.
Reality of the Motion of Particles.—Here there is no question of hypotheses. This internal agitation, this interior labour, this incessant activity of matter are positive facts, an objective reality. It is true that when the chemical or mechanical equilibrium of bodies is disturbed it is only restored more or less slowly. Sometimes days and years are required before it is regained. Scarcely do they attain this relative repose when they are again disturbed, for the environment itself is not fixed; it experiences variations which react in their turn upon the body under consideration; and it is only at the end of these variations, at the end of their respective periods, that they will attain together, in a universal uniformity, an eternal repose.
We shall see that metallic alloys undergo continual physical and chemical changes. They are always seeking a more or less elusive equilibrium. Physicists in modern times have given their attention
