HYPOTHESIS OF RADIANT MATTER 53 



ought to exert some influence on an electron ; if it accelerated its dextro- 

 gyratory motion, it would retard its lsevo-gyration, or vice versa. This 

 is precisely what Zeeman found when he examined the emission-spectra 

 of vapors that were placed in an electro-magnetic field ; single lines are 

 broken up into two or more finer lines, placed symmetrically with regard 

 to the position of the original one. Eighi has generalized the reasoning 

 so that it covers practically every relation between the vibrating electron 

 and the external magnetic strain to which it is subjected, and reaches 

 two conclusions : First, the vibrating electron is electro-negative ; second, 

 the ratio e/m, i. e., electric charge over mass, is about 1,000 times as 

 great as the ratio between the electric charge and mass of the hydrogen 

 ion. Assuming, perhaps arbitrarily, that the electric charge is the 

 same, the mass of the electron is about 1/1,000 that of the hydrogen 

 ion; it can be no mere coincidence that Thomson, Kaufmann and 

 others arrive at virtually the same figure for the mass of the corpuscles 

 which carry the negative charges in ionized gases of whatever chemical 

 constitution; in fact, everybody recognizes their identity. 



To quote Eighi, the neutral chemical atom (as distinguished from 

 the ion) consists of a central mass of positive charge, around which 

 revolve as satellites one or more electro-negative corpuscles, retained 

 in their orbits by some centripetal force. 



In connection with this definition, the following points seem to 

 require emphasis : the number of electrons per atom are few, practically 

 corresponding to the valency; this seems to be corroborated by recent 

 experiments of Becquerel on the phosphorescence of uranium minerals 

 at low temperatures, which likewise point out that light-emission is not 

 always confined to the negative corpuscle, as Eighi would have it. The 

 total mass of the free electrons in an atom is not sufficient to affect 

 the ratio between specific heats for constant pressure and constant 

 volume of monatomic vapors, like mercury and cadmium ; their velocity 

 in their orbits does not approach that of light, and they have no high 

 momentum retained by comparatively powerful internal attractions. 

 These electrons can not be identical with the X-particles which are pro- 

 jected with terrific force from the uranium, radium and other atoms, 

 according to Eutherford and his followers. 



I need only touch briefly on the electric discharges in vacuum tubes : 

 it is generally accepted that we distinguish Lenard or cathode rays, 

 which are negative, and positive Goldstein or canal rays within the 

 tube. They can be deflected by electric or magnetic fields, they produce 

 mechanical and heating effects, cast visible shadows, etc., and they 

 behave in general like streams of actual particles charged with elec- 

 tricity. When the cathode ray strikes an impenetrable obstacle, like 

 glass, the X-rays are produced as a secondary effect : these do not behave 

 as if conveyed by neutral particles; have vast penetrating power; con- 

 tain no electric charge, as they are not influenced by magnetic or elec- 



