Elasticity, which, better than any
other property of matter, could lead, through the idea of spring
or resistance, to that of impenetrability, is subject to the
control of a thousand circumstances, and depends entirely on
molecular attraction: now, what is more irreconcilable with
impenetrability than this attraction? Finally, there is a
science which might be defined with exactness as the SCIENCE OF
PENETRABILITY OF MATTER: I mean chemistry. In fact, how does
what is called chemical composition differ from penetration?[5].
. . . In short, we know matter only through its forms; of its
substance we know nothing. How, then, is it possible to affirm
the reality of an invisible, impalpable, incoercible being, ever
changing, ever vanishing, impenetrable to thought alone, to which
it exhibits only its disguises? Materialist! I permit you to
testify to the reality of your sensations; as to what occasions
them, all that you can say involves this reciprocity: something
(which you call matter) is the occasion of sensations which are
felt by another something (which I call spirit).
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