t be
properly applied to infinite space. The universe is to be conceived as
immoveable, since beyond it there is no place into which it can move;
and as eternal and immutable, since it is neither liable to increase
nor decrease, to production nor decay. Nevertheless, the parts of the
universe are in motion, and are subject to change.

"All bodies consist of parts, of which they are composed, and into
which they may be resolved; and these parts are either themselves simple
principles, or may be resolved into such. These first principles,
or simple atoms, are divisible by no force, and, therefore, must be
immutable. This may also be inferred from the uniformity of Nature,
which could not be preserved if its principles were not certain
and consistent. The existence of such atoms is evident, since it is
impossible that anything which exists should be reduced to nothing. A
finite body cannot consist of parts infinite, either in magnitude or
number; divisibility of bodies _ad infinitum_, is therefore
conceivable. All atoms are of the same nature, or differ in no essential
qualities--From their different effects upon the senses, it appears,
however, that they differ in magnitude, figure, and weight. Atoms exist
in every possible variety of figure--round, oval, conical, cubical,
sharp, hooked, etc. But in every shape, they are, on account of their
solidity, infrangible, or incapable of actual division.

"Gravity must be an essential property of atoms; for since they are
perpetually in motion, or making an effort to move, they must be moved
by an internal impulse, which may be called gravity.

"The principle of gravity, that internal energy which is the cause of
all motion, whether simple or complex, being essential to the primary
corpuscles or atoms, they must have been incessantly and from eternity
in actual motion."

Epicurus, who boasts that he was an inquirer and a philosopher in his
thirteenth year, was scarcely likely to bow his mind to the mythology of
his country. The man who, when he was but a schoolboy, insisted upon an
answer to the question, "Whence came chaos?" could hardly be expected
to receive as admitted facts the fabulous legends as to Jupiter and the
other gods. His theology is, however, in some respects, obscure, and
unintelligible; for while he zealously opposed the popular fables, which
men misname God-ideas, he at the same time admitted the existence of
material gods, whom he placed in the intervals b