68

O.63

For Dalton's own part, the belief that matter has ultimate parts was a mere habit, preventing any other conception from entering his head, and may be classed logically as a crude presumption. But the theory was put before the chemical world simultaneously, in effect, with the law of simple multiple proportions, of which it seemed proposed as affording an explanation. In Truth, it set no obstacle whatever in the way of 1000 atoms of Carbon combining with 2001 of Hydrogen; and in view of this, the general hearty welcome it received from chemists is a most striking phenomenon, proving the hypothesis eminently natural to the human mind; and the emphatic assent with which experiment has responded to it, is an example of what may be expected from a profoundly natural hypothesis.