The San Francisco call., 1896-11-01
The Scientific View
of a Great Building
Illusions Anent the Universal Omnipresent
Law of Molecular Force

Just now there is being erected in this
City one of the finest buildings west of
Chicago. The new CALL building will,
when completed, be the very best -strtc-
ture that modern science is Bile to devise
and construct. Equipped with every con-
4yenience known 20 the age, elaborate in
detail, elegant in style, luxurious iii ap-
pointments. it is, moreover, solid as the
bedrock and, framed throughout of tenn
pered steel, it will be able TO withstand the
most violent tenn blor likely to visit this
part of the world. It will be able to bend
and sway under the rocking influence of
an earthquake without danger to its ten
antry. 1 have given some little attention
to the construction plans OF this building,
and feel confident that it will be last
ing monument in every sense.
In the contemp plation of building like
this the chief idea onegets is that of So
lidity. Yet, as a matter of fact, there is
no greater illusion than this. There is no
such thing as solidity. The massive steel
and iron beams and girders entering into
the construction of the buildings that we
call "solid structures" are composed of
molecules that do not touch, and these
N olecules are in turn composed of atoms
also widely separated from one another.
They are in perpetual vibration, flying
apart from each other under the influence
OF heat and crowding together in the
presence of cold. Gould our vision be
rendered so acute as to allow of US seeing
these atoms and molecules they would
appear very much like q swarm of gnats
which are sometimes noticeable in the
evening of warm summer day. So when
we speak of the solidity of thing we are
using termthat does not mean what we
intend to convey. In what, then, con-
sists the so-called so1idity of the steel
beams? Not in the material atoms of it's
mass, for they are each and all apart and
in motion.
Not only does the fact apply to the steel
beam, it likewise applies 10 everything
cognizant to our material senses. Every
mass of matter in the world is composed
of atoms widely separated. All OF the
contents of our houses, our furniture, our
adornments, our foods and our beverages
are of the same nature of structure. Even
our bodies are formed by perpetual cir
culation OF molecules. Like the circula-
tion of the water which is drunk up from
the ocean by the warm sky, there to be
condensed into clouds which drift away,
are further condensed and fall as rain
upon some distant portion of the globe,
where, forming rivulets that converge in to
rivers, they flow backward to the ocean to
again and again renew the cycle that
knows no end, SO in our veins and arteries,
in our flesh and brains, everything is cir
culating ceaselessly in a rapid whirl.
What holds together the mass OF matter
that we cali our body?
In the ultga-terrestrial regions the same
law holds. ThroughouS the whole uni
verse every mass of matter Is but an aggre-
CATION of molecules. Researches in the
domain of physics establish the fact that
one great law rules. Its potency is mani
fest alike in the drop of water as in the
magnificent star. 1t is an immaterial
| force called molecular attraction. Dis
| tance--space-is as nothing to its opera
ton, and the power exercised by the
smallest atom compared TO that exercised
/ by the greatest mass in the universe
differs only in degree.
The reeling of drunken man upon the
street has its dynamic influence upon the
rotation of the earth. Tnfinitesimally
small, but nevertheless an actual in
, fuence. Everything in life-and by life
mean the known universe-is dominated
by the omnipresent force. Every mole
cule is acted upon by every other mole
cule, whether it be in its closest approx
unity, as in the steel beam, or separated
by billions of millions OF miles, as are the
stars.
Our earth is regarded as very reliable
and sober body, pursuing her way from
January TO January without indulging in
any high jinks. We commonly believe
that the moon is sort of poor relation
that mother earth takes with her much as
dependent upon her bounty. In fact the