ABSTRACT
A molecule's constitution would specifically indicate the sequence of chemical connections of atoms in molecules, while its configuration would indicate the spatial arrangement of its atoms. J. H. Van 't Hoff's conception of the tetrahedron proved incompatible with this provisional assumption that atoms were material points. The corners of the tetrahedron could not possibly indicate the direction of the forces, because at the corners of Van 't Hoff's model for double or triple bonds, there were no atoms. Aemilius Wunderlich assumed that atoms existed with specific dimensions out of a 'finite quantum of matter that also be distributed in a finite space'. Using a complicated geometrical argument without diagrams, similar to but more rigorous than that used by Van 't Hoff and J. A. Le Bel, Wunderlich concluded that the carbon atom possessed a tetrahedral shape, with the four central binding sites occupying the center of each face or 'binding plane' of the tetrahedron.
