From the many proofs of the non-contact of the atoms, even in the
most solid parts of bodies; from the very great space obviously
occupied by pores--the mass having often no more solidity than a heap
of empty boxes, of which the apparently solid parts may still be as
porous in a second degree and so on; and from the great readiness
with which light passes in all directions through dense bodies, like
glass, rock-crystal, diamond, &c., it has been argued that there is so
exceedingly little of really solid matter even in the densest mass,
that _the whole world_, if the atoms could be brought into absolute
contact, _might be compressed into a nutshell_. We have as yet no means
of determining exactly what relation this idea has to truth.--_Arnott._