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Connecting some dots from the spiritual plane...
29. Is density an essential attribute of matter?
"Yes, of matter as understood by you, but not of matter considered as the universal fluid. The ethereal and subtle matter which forms this fluid is imponderable for you, and yet it is none the less the principle of your ponderable matter."
Density is a relative property. Beyond the sphere of attraction of the various globes of the universe, there is no such thing as "weight," just as there is neither "up" nor "down."
30. Is matter formed of one element or of several elements?
"Of one primitive element. The bodies which you regard as simple are not really elementary; they are transformations of the primitive matter."
31. Whence come the different properties of matter?
"From the modifications undergone by the elementary molecules, as the result of their union and of the action of certain conditions."
32. According to this view of the subject, savors, odors, colors, sounds, the poisonous or salutary qualities of bodies, are only the result of modifications of one and the same primitive substance?
"Yes, undoubtedly; and that only exist in virtue of the disposition of the organs destined to perceive them."
This principle is proved by the fact that the qualities of bodies are not perceived by all persons in the same manner. The same thing appears agreeable to the taste of one person, and disagreeable to that of another, what appears blue to one person appears red to another. That which is a poison for some, is wholesome for others.
33. Is the same elementary matter susceptible of undergoing all possible modifications and of acquiring all possible qualities?
"Yes; and it is this fact which is implied in the saying that everything is in everything."
Oxygen, hydrogen, azote, carbon, and all the other bodies which we regard as simple, are only modifications of one primitive substance. But the impossibility, in which we have hitherto found ourselves, of arriving at this primitive matter otherwise than as an intellectual deduction, causes these bodies to appear to us to be really elementary and we may, therefore, without impropriety, continue for the present to regard them as such.
-- Does not this theory appear to bear out the opinion of those who admit only two essential properties in matter, namely, force and movement, and who regard all the other properties of matter as being merely secondary effects of these, varying according to the intensity of the force and the direction of the movement?
"That opinion is correct. But you must also add, according to the mode of molecular arrangement; as you see exemplified, for instance, in an opaque body, that may become transparent, and vice versa."
34. Have the molecules of matter a determinate form?
"Those molecules undoubtedly have a form, but one which is not appreciable by your organs."
-- Is that form constant or variable?
"Constant for the primitive elementary molecules, but variable for the secondary molecules, which are themselves only agglomerations of the primary ones; for what you term a molecule is still very far from being the elementary molecule."
35. Is universal space infinite or limited?
"Infinite. Suppose the existence of boundaries, what would there be beyond them? This consideration confounds human reason; and nevertheless your reason itself tells you that it cannot be otherwise. It is thus with the idea of infinity, under whatever aspect you consider it. The idea of infinity cannot be comprehended in your narrow sphere."
If we imagine a limit to space, no matter how far off our thought may place this limit, our reason tells us that there must still be something beyond it and so on, step by step, until we arrive at the idea of infinity; for the "something beyond," the existence of which is recognized by our thought as necessity, were it only an absolute void, would still be space.
36. Does an absolute void exist in any part of space?
"No, there is no void. What appears like a void to you is occupied by matter in a state in which it escapes the action of your senses and of your instruments."
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Topic: AVEC Replication Attempt (Read 81039 times)
