Emily Dickinson Lexicon

A-TOM'IC, or A-TOM'IC-AL, a.

Pertaining to atoms; consisting of atoms; extremely minute. The atomical philosophy, said to be broached by Moschus, before the Trojan war, and cultivated by Epicurus, teaches that atoms are endued with gravity and motion, by which all things were formed, without the aid of a Supreme intelligent Being. The atomic theory, in chimistry, or the doctrine of definite proportions, teaches that all chimical combinations take place between the ultimate particles or atoms of bodies, and that these unite either atom with atom, or in proportions expressed by some simple multiple of the number of atoms. – Dalton.