What was the Explanation of Waves Before the Discovery of Atoms? Waves are basically the regular movement of atoms or molecules. However, it is also my understanding that it was only after Einstein's paper on Brownian Motion was published that the Particle Theory of Matter was accepted.
So, now, my question is, how did people explain waves even before accepting the Particle Nature of Matter?
P.S., if there's anything incorrect in my understanding of the history of this issue, I apologise.
 A: Fluid mechanics, elasticity, and macroscopic electrodynamics are occassionally called "mechanics/electrodynamics of continuous media", because they are formulated in terms of continuous fields (density, pressure, etc.), as opposed to microscopic theories, which descend to molecular/atomic/particle level. So not accepting atoms would not be a problem.
Remark: atomic theory had been accepted much earlier than you think, even though the major advances in understanding the atoms themselves occurred starting from the late XIXth century, see Atomic theory:

In the 14th century, the rediscovery of major works describing atomist teachings, including Lucretius's De rerum natura and Diogenes Laërtius's Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, led to increased scholarly attention on the subject. Nonetheless, because atomism was associated with the philosophy of Epicureanism, which contradicted orthodox Christian teachings, belief in atoms was not considered acceptable by most European philosophers.[3] The French Catholic priest Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655) revived Epicurean atomism with modifications, arguing that atoms were created by God and, though extremely numerous, are not infinite. He was the first person who used the term "molecule" to describe aggregation of atoms.[3][4] Gassendi's modified theory of atoms was popularized in France by the physician François Bernier (1620–1688) and in England by the natural philosopher Walter Charleton (1619–1707). The chemist Robert Boyle (1627–1691) and the physicist Isaac Newton (1642–1727) both defended atomism and, by the end of the 17th century, it had become accepted by portions of the scientific community.[3]

