The theory of Prigogine is applied to the deduction of the molecular structure of a simple dense fluid not in equilibrium, described in terms of the phase singlet distribution. The intermolecular interaction is assumed to have the form of the sum of constituent pair forces, and the pair force itself is supposed to be composed of a hard core and an extended weak interaction. It is shown how the Rice-Allnatt equation can be derived in this way, but that the natural development of the theory of the time evolution of the singlet distribution is such as to lead as a first approximation to the equation recently given independently by Popielowski, Rice and Hurt. An improved equation for the singlet distribution is derived, in § 8, and some comments are made about the present standing of the theory in its application to dense fluids.