During the entire 18th century, the dominant view with regard to heat and light was that put forth by Isaac Newton, called the Newtonian hypothesis, which states that light and heat are forms of matter attracted or repelled by other forms of matter, with forces analogous to gravitation or to chemical affinity.
Under hela 1700-talet, var den dominerande åsikten om värme och ljus den som framförts av Isaac Newton, vilken tillstår att dessa är former av materia som dras till eller stöts bort av andra former av materia, med krafter analoga till gravitation eller kemisk affinitet.