124 WHAT IB LIFE 



siderable distance. A positive electron and a neg- 

 ative electron not in such relations are not a hydro- 

 gen atom. 



A unit consisting of a positive electron and a neg- 

 ative electron united in an extremely close union 

 would not be a hydrogen atom, but a new and dif- 

 ferent unit. 



We are forced to these conclusions by the general 

 facts of the atoms and the electrons. Although at pres- 

 ent other forms of combination are unknown, it 

 would be mathematically absurd to assume arbi- 

 trarily that the pattern of the atom, our intimate 

 knowledge of which has been acquired only within 

 the last decade and a half, is the only possible pattern 

 into which positive and negative electrons can unite. 

 (See Aston, p. 79.) But unless we hold that the 

 pattern of the combination of positive and negative 

 electrons as found in the elements (atomic nuclei and 

 orbits, as recently given by Bohr's theory and more 

 recently identified by spectroscopy), is the complete 

 scheme of the universe, or that any other pattern 

 of combination of positive and negative electrons is 

 impossible, we must admit the ready probability that 

 under the conditions presented an exceedingly close 

 union of a positive electron with a negative electron — 

 a new unit — may result. 



This new unit could not enter into combination 



