On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences

The various hypotheses that have been formed as to the nature and action of the forces which unite the particles of matter, have been successively given up as science advanced, and now nothing decisive has been attained, although Professor Mossotti, of Pisa, by a very able analysis, has endeavoured to prove the identity of the cohesive force with gravitation. As the particles of material bodies are not in actual contact, he supposes that each is surrounded by an atmosphere of the ethereal medium, which he conceives to be electricity; moreover he assumes that the atoms of the medium repel one another, that the particles of matter also repel one another, but with less intensity, and that there is a mutual attraction between the particles of matter and the atoms of the medium, forces which are assumed to vary inversely as the square of the distance.