70 EXPERISrENTS WITH IONIZED ^VIR. 



initial section of the condenser contiguous to the hard-rubber plug, where many 

 ions must alivadv have vanipihed by abs<>r|itioii. I hold the value of ;/,, stated to be 

 in reasonable accord with the theory sketched in §g (j-S and throughout the course 

 of the present chapters. 



1 1'. Origin of h. — With me the belief is gradually gaining ground, and will be 

 further qualified in my next chapter with spherical condensers, that the absorption 

 velocity k is a constant, irrespective of dilution, and that the evidence to the con- 

 trary ol)tained in my second pajter with very mde absorption tubes (2 inches in 

 diameter) must Ije otherwise inter[)i'eted. These results were at the outset not 

 very satisfactory, and one may reach other conclusions than the immediate ones 

 there stated. In speculating on the origin of l\ considered as a nuclear constant 

 one is confronted with this question : If the nucleus is larger than the molecule, as 

 I believe it is, it will with increasing size be more liable to the bombardment of a 

 number of molecules at the same time, pi-omiscuously in all directions, whereas the 

 molecules themselves collide singly ; therefore, how large must a nucleus be made in 

 order that the molecular velocity of, say, 485 metei's/second may sink to the value of 

 only about 1 centimeter/second both as the result of increased inertia and of the 

 increasingly unfavorable conditions of bombardment? 



