An Objection . Heat, sound, light, etc. are all subject to the same general laws of reflection, refraction, and interference. Now it is difficult to understand such a fact as this if these energies are distinguished from one another by qualities which are specifically distinct. We reply that whilst it is beyond dispute that many of the physical laws apply to some of the energies we regard as heterogeneous, there is nothing in this fact which either militates against the Scholastic theory or proves the homogeneity of material forces. Hence it is not to be wondered at that owing to this common property all forces are subject to certain general laws of physics.
Dynamic atomism is a half measure.
As a reaction against mechanism it acknowledges that if matter is despoiled of every internal principle of activity, philosophy cannot hope to give an ultimate explanation of the facts which present themselves and must leave the universe to the caprice of chance. It keeps in view then the order of the universe and allows that matter has forces properly so called. But it denies a substantial diversity between beings and in so far fails to give an explanation of the constant diversity of the groups of accidental properties. It makes a step in the direction of Scholasticism but does not logically arrive at it because it is content to leave the problem of cosmology only partly solved.