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A universal property of matter is that it appears in three different states --solid, liquid and gaseous. These three states are associated with different ranges of temperature: as the temperature increases, a substance passes through the solid, liquid and gaseous states in succession. In the atomic interpretation of matter, the three states are associated with different intensities and different types of molecular motion. In this respect did the Renaissance bring the re-birth of ancient Greek thinking. It dates back to Leucippus, Democritus and Epicurus (about 400 B.C.), was rejected by Aristotle, but remained current to some extent. We find it back in great length in the poem "De Return Natura" by the Roman writer Lucretius (A.D. 55). The atomic structure of matter was in its ancient stage not based on convincing quantitative proofs characteristic of modern theories. During the middle ages it was among several alternative speculations, accepted by some, but emphatically rejected by others.
The revival of atomistics started around the middle of the seventeenth century with the work of Gassendi ("Syntagma Philosophicum," 1658). He appeared to be the first to realize that the motion of atoms alone was sufficient to account for a number of phenomena, instead of each phenomenon requiring a separate explanation. The importance of Gassendi's work was described as follows by Lasswitz ("Der Verfall der Atomistik im 17. Jahrhundert," Pogg. Ann., Vol. 153, p. 373 (1864)):
Following Democritus and Epicurus, Gassendi in the seventeenth century re-established and elaborated on atomic theory based upon the assumption that all material phenomena can be referred to the indestructible motion of atoms and can therefore be described as kinetic. Gassendi's atoms are devoid of all qualities except absolute rigidity; they are similar in substance, but different in size and form, and move in all directions through empty space. On this basis Gassendi explains a number of physical processes, in particular the three states of matter and the transition from one to another, in a way very little different from that of the modern kinetic theory. Hooke (1678), independently from Gassendi, attempted to give an explanation of Boyle's law for gases made up of atoms, but the first clear derivation of this law was presented sixty years later by D. Bernouilli in his book "Hydrodynamica" (1738). Bernouilli also attempted to find a relation between pressure and volume of a gas when the finite size of the