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SUTRA 28
141
It is true that hardness and softness can be associated only with a little mass ‘molecule' of matter -a property which is generated by the loose or compact aggregation of paramäņus, and because all paramāņus, whether of the form of electron or that of the positron, have the same mass there arises no question of light and heavy amongst the elementary grains of matter. This difference in mass is found only amongst the skandhas, the atoms of modern chemistry. As is well-known the 92 kinds of atoms, each has a different weight, called the atomic weight. For instance, if an atom of gold weighs 196, that of mercury 200.
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SUTRA 28. HIGHETATUT ETTT: 112511 BHEDA-SANGHĀTĀBHYĀM CĀKSUSAH [28] (Molecules are sometimes produced by the combined action of division and union which can be seen with the eyes.)
Says the author of Sarvārıha-siddhi : अनन्तानन्तपरमाणुसमुदयनिष्पाद्योपि कश्चिच्चाक्षुषः, कश्चिदचाक्षुषः ।
(Molecules composed even of an infinite number of elementary grains (paramāņus) some of them are visible and some invisible.)
How the visible molecules are produced, the same author says:
सौक्ष्म्यपरिणतः पुनरपरः सत्यपि तद्भेदेन्यसंघातान्तर-संयोगात्सौम्यपरिणामोपरमे स्थौल्योत्पत्तौ चाक्षुषो भवति ।
(If a molecule breaks and the broken part then attaches itself to another molecule the resulting combination may be fine enough to be seen with the eyes.)
Any number of illustrations can be given from text-books on chemistry. For instance, molecules of hydrogen and chlorine gas are invisible to the eyes but when each of them combines to Torm two molecules of hydro-chloric acid, the thing becomes visible and even the molecules can be recognized through an ultra-microscope. The reaction can be represented symbolically
