CHAPTER III 



THE REFORMED CONCEPT OF MATTER 



Sttmmary. — Coming now from the Space-Time continuum to 

 Matter we find the feature of structure much more conspicuous 

 and important. The physical and chemical constitution of matter 

 is almost entirely a matter of structure. Chemistry has traced 

 matter to its ultimate units or atoms, and to the combination of 

 these into molecules and substances according to structural 

 schemes dependent on the placing and spacing of the different units 

 in the various chemical combinations. The New Physics has car- 

 ried the process a step further back by analysing atoms into their 

 constituent electrons and protons, or units of negative and positive 

 electricity. These units are so arranged structurally as to ap- 

 proximate to the form of more or less complicated solar systems, 

 with central positive nuclei and revolving planetary electrons. 

 The explanation of the physical' and chemical properties of matter 

 has been traced to the structural arrangements in these atomic 

 systems and the number and changes in position of their various 

 units. Matter is thus a structure of energy units revolving with 

 immense velocities in Space-Time, and the various elements arise 

 from the number and arrangement of the units in an atom; as 

 these can be varied, the transmutation of elements becomes pos- 

 sible, as in Radioactivity. The peculiar serial character of the 

 Periodic Table of the elements is thus due to the number of units 

 and their architecture in the atoms. Atomic Weights and Atomic 

 Numbers reflect this inner arithmetical character of the atoms. 



The states of matter, as gaseous, liquid or solid, are also the 

 results of the residual surface forces in atoms and molecules, due 

 to their inner structure. Crystal structure is another result of 

 inner atomic structure. But perhaps the most remarkable state of 

 matter is a combination of the other states ; this is called the col- 

 loid state, in which very minute particles of one material are 

 dispersed throughout another. This colloid state is much more 

 universal than commonly thought, and is specially important be- 

 cause the protoplasm of cells is organised in this state. The 

 minuteness of the dispersed particles means the exposure of a 

 maximum surface area compared to their mass. These surfaces 

 bring into play the surface forces and show peculiar affinities or 



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