20 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. — SECTION' I. 



this acquired mass becomes so great in comparison with the original 

 mass that we may consider the latter as a negligible quantity 

 regarding the whole mass as being due to a charge of electricity 

 in rapid motion. If this be true then we have achieved a solution 

 of the problem of the genesis of matter. 



When an electron is taken away from an atom the latter becomes 

 a positive ion, a.nd the addition of one or more corpuscles to a 

 neutral atom produces a negative ion. 



The corpuscles would seem to be the elements out of which 

 atoms are manufactured, and since similar corpuscles are emitted 

 by any kind of matter it should follow that any kind of matter 

 might be built up of any corpuscles. From consideration of the 

 fact that corpuscles are similarly charged and repel each other. 

 J. J. Thomson has shown that the valency of an atom may be 

 associated with the arrangement of the corpuscle in the atom. 



To summarise : in 1881 Sir J.J. Thomson first showed definitely 

 that an electric charge must possess inertia — that is, it must have a 

 property similar to that usually associated with matter. In 1899 he 

 discovered masses smaller than atoms, to which he gave the name 

 " corpuscles." These corpuscles were proved by himself and other 

 investigators to be charges of negative electricity. He says : — 



" The whole mass of anv body is just the mass of ether surrounding the 

 body which is carried along V)y the Faradav tubes associated with the atoms 

 of the body. In fact, all mass is mass of tlie ether, and all kinetic energy 

 kinetic energy of the ether." 



This view, it should be said, requires the density of the ether to 

 be immensely greater than that of any known substance. 



The spectra of the stars vary in their character — some show just 

 a few bright lines, indicating that the matter composing them is 

 still in a gaseous condition. This is particularly the case with the 

 white star Snius, which shows chiefly the spectrum of hydrogen 

 and helium. Yellow stars show many metal lines, and in red stars 

 of the Betelgeuse type we have evidence that compounds such as 

 CO:; must exist there. The white stars are supposed to be hotter 

 than the yellow stars, of which our sun is a representative, while 

 the red stars are believed to be less hot than the yellow. Now, 

 the hotter the star the simpler must be the constitution of the 

 molecules or. perhaps, the atoms composing the matter, so that 

 we may consider that the process of stellar evolution is really that 

 of the evolution of matter, viz., that of simple, perhaps inert gases, 

 to that of the most energetic of the chemical elements. Helium 

 we must I'egard as a very simple kind of matter, more so even than 

 hydrogen, although its spectrum is a little more complex. That 

 may be due to the circumstance, not at all improbable, that helium 

 is really a complex body which may with more refined chemical 

 and physical methods be resolved into the "primordial" element 

 from which all other kinds of matter are evolved. 



Probably in the sun itself the process is going on continuously, 

 for the higher atmosphere of the sun gives spectra composed of 

 few bright lines, indicating that the matter there must be intensely 

 hot. The spectra of the bottom of the cavities which we call 

 sunspots, indicate that compounds must be present. Of course, 



