quatrilliontupled, every instant of time, to all eternity, it would never become infinitely extended. And, by the same rule, it can never become infinitely subdivided. If, however, by the term "infinite divisibility," as applied to matter, is merely meant its capacity for interminable subdivision, then the question resolves itself either into one of speculative fancy or of practical fact. If the former, then it must be admitted that, by an effort of the imagination, we can conceive of such a divisibility beyond any assignable limits. But if we regard the question as a practical one, it immediately becomes too absurd for serious attention, since it is evident that human power, limited in all things, must be so in producing artificial subdivisions of matter. However unlimited, therefore, the capacity of matter may be for divisibility, that of human beings, in relation to it, must be narrow indeed. When chemists, therefore, and other philosophers, speak of the divisibility of the present ultimate atoms of matter, they must, however unconsciously, regard them in relation to human ability, and thus far the question may become one of experiment. But the question as to whether matter can actually be subdivided indefinitely and without end, is one readily answered in the negative, by the known inability of mankind to continue an endless experiment of this kind. The whole question therefore, concerning the illimitable divisibility of matter, which has been discussed from the earliest period of science to the present day, is frivolous, fruitless, and irrational.