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But for those who wish to study the molecular constitution of bodies it is necessary to study the effect of forces which are sensible only at insensible distances; and Laplace has furnished us with an example of the method of this study which has never been surpassed.
But the Cartesian theory, like the later speculations of Kant and Laplace, proposes to give a hypothetical explanation of the circumstances and motions which in the normal course of things led to the state of things required by the law of attraction.
The application of this to telegraphic purposes was suggested by Laplace and taken up by Ampere, and afterwards by Triboaillet and by Schilling, whose work forms the foundation of much of modern telegraphy.
In his Naturgeschichte des Himmels, in which he anticipated the nebular theory afterwards more fully developed by Laplace, Kant sought to explain the genesis of the cosmos as a product of physical forces and laws.
Laplace supposed the existence of a primeval nebula which extended so far out as to fill all the space at present occupied by the planets.