36 Journal of the Mitchell Society [September 



hypothesis as follows: "Hydrogen may be regarded as a primary 

 matter from which all other elements are formed by various conden- 

 sations," Were he stating the present day belief it is doubtful if 

 he could improve on the statement. 



Front's hypothesis, however, was based upon inexact determi- 

 nations and was unable to stand against the more exact work of 

 Berzelius, Stas, and others. But despite the downfall of this hypoth- 

 esis the germ idea, the belief in a fundamental, basal substance 

 persisted. Von Meyer says that Front's hypothesis acted for a long 

 time like a ferment, in that it gave rise to continually renewed specu- 

 lation upon the connection which existed between the elements and 

 their atomic weights. May it not be that the working of this fer- 

 ment finally produced the periodic tables of Newlands and Mendeleef ? 

 Moreover, does not the table of Mendeleef itself suggest that the 

 various elements are complex and not simple ? We know that Mende- 

 leef predicted the discovery of elements to fill certain blanks in his 

 table, and that because of their positions in the table he predicted 

 both their chemical and physical properties. Was not the simple 

 statement of the periodic law, that the properties of an element are 

 periodic functions of its atomic weight, sufficient to warrant the 

 belief in an elemental substance? 



The beginning of the new era, which has been so rich in results 

 in the search for the primordial -atom, may be said to have its origin 

 in the invention of the Crookes tube. The study of gaseous con- 

 duction has been a most interesting one for physicists from the time 

 of Faraday in the hope that it might reveal the nature of elec- 

 tricity. With the advent of the Crookes tube the discharge from the 

 negative electrode, the cathode rays, assumed chief importance. While 

 notable work was done by many with these tubes preeminence belongs 

 to Sir William Crookes, both for results obtained and for the inter- 

 pretation of these results. 



Crookes showed that the cathode rays were deflected by a magnet 

 as if they Avere negatively charged particles. That they are such 

 was first shown by Ferrin and later rigorously by J. J. Thomson. 

 From his studies of these cathode rays Crookes was led to announce 

 his theory of radiant matter or fourth state of matter, which theory 

 no less an authority than the Encyclopedia Britannica says led to 

 the modern electronic theory. 



Crookes 's studies with the tube which bears his name extended 



