[The general and aggregate bearing of the facts and experiments which are now known, render the statement here made by Mr. Wood extremely probable, viz; That caloric is a very subtle fluid which pervades in large quantities every particle of matter in the universe--that it is the agent which regulates the _densities_ of all bodies, and by consequence, regulates in some measure their _weight_ and _dimensions_. It is considered as an almost settled question, _that a stratum of caloric surrounds each ultimate particle of every body, so that the ultimate particles of bodies do not, and cannot be made to touch each other_. Their inherent inclination to come into actual contact is called their _attraction of cohesion_: the power of this attraction is in proportion to the distance at which they are kept from each other by the atmosphere of caloric which intervenes between them. This atmosphere of caloric is _idio-repulsive_: of course the particles of caloric have an inherent _repulsion_ among themselves, and are ever struggling to get further asunder. This idio-repulsive nature of caloric is the great, and constant antagonist power to the attraction of cohesion. Caloric has a tendency to drive the particles of matter further from each other, and these particles have a mutual tendency to approach. Hence these two principles are ever in conflict. As a general rule we may say, when the attraction of cohesion prevails greatly, the body becomes _solid_: when the two forces are pretty nearly balanced, the body becomes _liquid_: when the caloric prevails greatly, the body becomes _gaseous_. There is sufficient reason to believe, that _every_ body in nature might be raised to a _gaseous_ state by the addition or action of a sufficient quantity of caloric: and there is, probably, a sufficient quantity in nature, to render the whole _universe_ gaseous, were it sufficiently excited to a state of freedom. It is a well known fact, that _all the metals are fusible by heat_, and many of them have been _volatalized_, and it is extremely probable all of them may be. As caloric regulates the density of bodies, by resisting and modifying the influence of the attraction of cohesion: if it were entirely withdrawn from nature, or the whole of it rendered perfectly latent, _all matter would become perfectly_ SOLID and FIXED: even _water_ and _air_ would assume the _solidity of the diamond_. We must, therefore, regard caloric as the great conservative principle of the Universe, and yet capable, if called into action, of destroying it instantly. These views strongly corroborate _our_ paper on _chaos_.]