History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India, Incorporating the History of Hindu Chemistry by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray c40.s3.41

c40.s3.41

(a) *Mono-bhautic compounds of the first order*.—Under the impact or impulse of heat corpuscles, the substances in chemical contact break up into their atoms. These atoms are homogeneous, possessing only the original physical and chemical characters of the *bhuta* concerned. As the specific differences between isomeric substances arise from the arrangement or collocation of the atoms, the substances lose their distinctive marks on decomposition into the latter. Under the continued impact (or, it may be, impulse) of heat particles, these atoms take on new characters. It is heat and heat alone that can cause this transformation of the colours, tastes, smells, etc., in these original *bhuta-atoms*. What particular colours, tastes, smells or physical characters will be produced in the atoms depends on (1) the nature of the constituent substances in contact, (2) the intensity or degree of the heat, and (3) the species of *tejas-corpuscles* that impinge on the atoms, or the nature of the impact.