Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Volume and Surface Integrals Used in Physics
It is practically certain that no substance can be subdivided without limit into small portions each of which possesses the gravitation property. There must be a stage of subdivision beyond which the component portions cease to have the properties of larger portions of the substance, and we may speak of the smallest portion of a substance that has the gravitation property as a 'particle' for purposes of the present discussion. What the order of magnitude of a particle may be it is difficult to guess, but the kind of generalisation from large bodies to small bodies which led to the conception of an element of mass suggests the possibility that the process of subdivision without loss of the gravitation property might be continued till we arrive at the molecule of Chemistry or Gas Theory. There is no experimental evidence to prohibit, and possibly some to justify our carrying the generalisation so far (provided we set some limit to the smallness of the distance at which the attraction of two particles is supposed to obey the law of the inverse square), and the great simplicity of the law thus obtained makes it an interesting one to study.
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