MAN'S CONCEPTION OF THE ELEMENTS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 134, 9 June 1906, Page 4

MAN'S CONCEPTION OF THE ELEMENTS.

An interesting and instructive lecture upon the changes that have taken place in man's conception of the elements was delivered by Professor F. D, Brown, M.A., •F.C.S., President of the Auckland Institute, at the first meeting of the present session on Monday last.

The professor in dealing with Iris subject, showed that if there was any truth in the teachings of scientific men, matter, such as the glass paperweight upon the table, was a totally different thing from what it appeared to be, and consisted of atoms and electrons in rapid moti on and widely separated from one another" The disparity between what really was and what seemed to be was recognised long ago. Sonic calling themselves idealists had asserted that the only reality was the idea of a thing, while others calling themselves materialists asserted that the only real thing was matter itself. He went on to show that Aristotle and his school had taken the middle line, asserting that matter assumed certain forms or aspects which became known to mankind. These aspects, he said, were earth, air, fire, and water, or rather earthliness, airiness, and so on. He pointed out that words like information, quintessence, und others resulted from these ideas of Aristole with regard to the elementary forms of matter, He proceeded to trace the changes in these views which took place during the succeeding agea down to their final overthrow by . Lavoiser and Dalton at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Dalton, he said, assigned to different atoms different weights, and laid the foundation of modern chemistry. The rest of the century up until 1870 had been devoted towards perfecting Dalton'a idea. It was decided that atoms had different values and were related to one another. In 1870 the high water mark of clearness in man's conception of material things was reached. Since then the investigation, of the discharge of electricity through gas, the discovery of radium and of smaller bodies had led to the belief that atoms were not indestructible, but consisted of go-called electrons, which showed that atoms were really charges of electricity masquerading as matter owing to the enormous velocity at which they travelled, If. the speed, of these electrons diminished with the ages nothing in time would be left except the ether. The secure foundation upon which the conception of things material seemed to have been founded no longer possessed the same certainty, but one thing at any rate was certain, and that was that things were not what they seemed,