42 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



or rather Action, and therefore still further simplifies the 

 scheme of the universe. 



There is another fact which shows the intimate relation 

 between energy on the one hand and structure or mass on 

 the other. The mass or atomic weight of the free Hydrogen 

 atom has been determined as 1.0077. In the Helium 

 nucleus, as we have seen, there are four protons or Hydrogen 

 nuclei, but here their mass only appears as one. In other 

 words, the free Hydrogen atoms or protons (they are practi- 

 cally identical as regards mass) suffer a diminution of mass 

 when they are concentrated into the Helium nucleus, as if 

 in this nucleus, which is itself an inner constellation system, 

 the protons and electrons are so close as to jam each other, 

 and therefore move more slowly and thereby decrease their 

 mass or matter. When the Helium nucleus is again split up 

 into Hydrogen protons, this loss of mass would be recover- 

 able in the form of energy, which, small as it is in the 

 Helium nucleus, must be enormous in the world, as in all 

 matter the nuclei are composed either of Hydrogen pro- 

 tons or Helium protons (their compressed form) or both. 

 Should this energy ever become economically available, the 

 greatest potential source of energy in the universe will be 

 opened up for the benefit of mankind. 



This would involve the artificial breaking up of matter, 

 and this is the phenomenon which we actually witness in 

 a natural spontaneous form in Radioactivity. In Radio- 

 activity the nuclei of the heavier elements (Uranium, 

 Thorium, and Radium) spontaneously break up and eject 

 Helium at an invariable slow rate, which is regular 

 enough to be a geological clock, now being used as a 

 measure to calculate the age of the oldest rock-formations 

 of the earth.^ Thus the Periodic Table shows that the 

 expulsion of three Helium atoms from Uranium will con- 

 vert it through Thorium into Radium; the expulsion of 

 one more Helium atom will convert Radium into an 



* The age of these oldest formations, the Algonkian mountains of 

 Canada, has thus been calculated as 1400 million years. Thus on this 

 basis we obtain the lowest limit for the age of the earth. 



