Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlvii. (1903), No. 11. 25 



a conclusion is unnecessary. Tf the fundamental matter, 

 the " protyle," as Crookes has called it, is itself discon- 

 tinuous and atomic in structure, the same property must 

 be shown in all of its aggregations, and so the difficulties 

 seen by Mendeleeff disappear. The chemical atoms 

 become clusters of smaller particles, whose relative 

 magnitudes are as yet unknown. 



That bodies smaller than atoms really exist, is the 

 conclusion reached by J. J.Thomson* from his researches 

 upon the ionisation of gases. According to him, this 

 phenomenon " consists in the detachment from the atom 

 of a negative ion," this being " the same for all gases." 

 He regards " the atom as containing a large number of 

 smaller bodies," which he calls "corpuscles," and these 

 are equal to one another. " In the normal atom this 

 assemblage of corpuscles forms a system which is elec- 

 trically neutral." It must be borne in mind that these 

 conclusions are drawn by Thomson from the study of one 

 class of phenomena, and it is of course possible that they 

 may not be finally sustained. Their value to us at the 

 present moment lies in their suggestiveness, and in the 

 curious way in which they reinforce other arguments of 

 similar purport. The possibility that the chemical atoms 

 can be actually broken down into smaller particles of one 

 and the same kind, is, to say the least, startling, but it 

 cannot be disregarded. The evidence obtained by Thomson 

 is, so far as it goes, positive, and it is entitled to receive 

 due weight in all discussions of our present problem. It 

 is the first direct testimony that we have been able to 

 obtain, all previous evidence being either negative or 

 circumstantial. It may be misinterpreted, but it is not to 

 be pushed aside. 



* Phil. Mag., (5), 48, p. 547. Also Popular Science Monthly, August, 

 1901. 



