corresponding importance to that of the whole molecular theory of matter
and should not be entered upon lightly.

* * * * *

The writer freely acknowledges at present that the illustrations in the
foregoing are badly chosen and some of the statements are too strong, but
it still represents essentially his ideas on the subject. No reputable
scientific journal would undertake to publish it. The paper was then sent
to Prof. J. Willard Gibbs of Yale, and elicited the following letter from
him:

"NEW HAVEN, JUNE 2, 1897.

"MY DEAR MR. BOSTWICK:

"I regret that I have allowed your letter to lie so long
unanswered. It was in fact not very easy to answer, and when one
lays a letter aside to answer, the weeks slip away very fast.

"I do not think that you state the matter quite right in regard to
the mixture of fluids if they were continuous. The mixing of water
as I regard it would be like this, if it were continuous and not
molecular. Suppose you should take strips of white and red glass
and heat them until soft and twist them together. Keep on drawing
them out and doubling them up and twisting them together. It would
soon require a microscope to distinguish the red and white glass,
which would be drawn out into thinner and thinner filaments if the
matter were continuous. But it would be always only a matter of
optical power to distinguish perfectly the portion of red and