OUTLINE OF SCHRODINGER'S THEORY 219 



not. Two stormy areas would correspond to a single 

 electron uncertain as to which area it was located in. 

 So long as there is the faintest probability of the first 

 electron being in any region, we cannot make the Schro- 

 dinger waves there represent a probability belonging to 

 a second electron. Each electron wants the whole of 

 three-dimensional space for its waves; so Schrodinger 

 generously allows three dimensions for each of them. 

 For two electrons he requires a six-dimensional sub- 

 aether. He then successfully applies his method on the 

 same lines as before. I think you will see now that 

 Schrodinger has given us what seemed to be a com- 

 prehensible physical picture only to snatch it away again. 

 His sub-aether does not exist in physical space; it is in 

 a "configuration space" imagined by the mathematician 

 for the purpose of solving his problems, and imagined 

 afresh with different numbers of dimensions according 

 to the problem proposed. It was only an accident 

 that in the earliest problems considered the configu- 

 ration space had a close correspondence with physical 

 space, suggesting some degree of objective reality 

 of the waves. Schrodinger's wave-mechanics is not 

 a physical theory but a dodge — and a very good dodge 

 too. 



The fact is that the almost universal applicability of 

 this wave-mechanics spoils all chance of our taking it 

 seriously as a physical theory. A delightful illustration 

 of this occurs incidentally in the work of Dirac. In one 

 of the problems, which he solves by Schrodinger waves, 

 the frequency of the waves represents the number of 

 systems of a given kind. The wave-equation is formu- 

 lated and solved, and (just as in the problem of the 

 hydrogen atom) it is found that solutions only exist for 

 a series of special values of the frequency. Consequently 



