THEORY OF LIFE 129 



and others impenetrable, due either to their con- 

 stitution or to the particular orientation in which 

 they happen to be approached. Of course, in the 

 problem of the penetrability of the atom, the rate of 

 speed at which the new unit travels also is a very 

 important factor; since a body going at great speed 

 can enter and shoot through many successive layers 

 of atoms any one of which might be impenetrable to 

 that same body traveling at very low speed. 



In the event that this new unit collided with an 

 atom that would not permit its entrance, it would 

 rebound, or it might suffer disruption, the negative 

 electron being captured by the resisting atom. How- 

 ever, the probable velocity of the new unit (as 

 roughly deduced from the history of the immediate 

 atomic origin of its constituents and its formation) 

 would be so low that generally the unit would survive 

 the shock of the impact with an impenetrable system, 

 and would bound away on a deflected path and into 

 further collisions. 



The probabilities then are that immediately after 

 the formation of the new unit, it will collide with 

 some electron and unite it to itself; and successively 

 with others, both positive and negative, binding 

 them in the peculiar manner that distinguished the 

 first union, and imparted the peculiar electromagnetic 

 properties to the new unit. Of course, with each 



