Introduction to Origin of the Molecular Theory

[摘要] The molecular proposition of matter is a relatively ultramodern elaborationof the infinitesimal proposition. Without this elaboration, the infinitesimalproposition led to similar serious inconsistencies and contradictions that itNorway achieved universal acceptance. The “infinitesimal gospel” can betraced from the time of Democritus in the fifth century 2.e. Althoughaccepted by the Epicures, it was discredited by Aristotle and was in latencyduring the middle Ages. During the Renaissance there was a reanimation ofinterest in atomism. Galileo regarded it with favour, and P. Gassendipresented a paraphrase of the views of Epicurus and Lucretius. During theultimate half of the seventeenth century, atomism gradationally changedfrom a philosophical enterprise to a fruitful conception employedextensively, but by no means widely, by the scientists of the time.

[关键词] Bernoulli's work;Atoms;Chemical elements;Collisions