44 HOLISM AND EVOLUTION chap. 



we find elements with two negative or positive charges un- 

 satisfied, which will again combine with another element 

 which has two opposite charges unsatisfied. And so on to 

 the elements which have three, four or five charges un- 

 satisfied. In this way both chemical affinity and the valency 

 (mono valency, divalency, etc.) of the elements are accounted 

 for. In every case the external properties of the element 

 are simply the expression of its internal structure and its 

 condition of stable or unstable equilibrium in respect of its 

 inner elements. 



Not only the combination of atoms into molecules, but the 

 formation of the most complex compounds rests on this con- 

 dition of unstable equilibrium due to unsatisfied negative or 

 positive charges in the combining elements. The compound, 

 instead of being a single system of the solar t5^e, is a far 

 more complex affair, and represents the case where suns with 

 their attendant planets again revolve round a greater central 

 sun, or where several solar systems are linked together exter- 

 nally and not by a common centre. In either case the dis- 

 tribution and equilibrium of the moving internal electric 

 units determine the structure of the substance as matter as 

 well as its physical and chemical properties, while the move- 

 ments of the substance as a whole and of its parts relatively 

 to each other create the gravitational field or curved Space- 

 Time system which forms the medium and the field of the 

 substance. There is thus structure through and through, 

 not only in matter or the energies which in their extreme 

 concentration and velocity assume the massive form of 

 matter, but also in the field which surrounds this matter. 



The gaseous, liquid and solid forms of matter are also the 

 result of this inner condition of electrical stability in the 

 atom and molecule. If the positive and negative charges are 

 quite equal and properly distributed the result, as we have 

 seen, is an inert element. And this element will also be a 

 gas, as the inner satisfaction of the charges and balance of 

 the system will make it inactive or inert externally. All 

 gases are states of matter where the inner balance of equili- 

 ,brium in the atoms and molecules is such that there is no 



