COSMIC RADIATION — BLACKETT 185 



testing or distinguishing between these numerous rival hypotheses, 

 it is probably not worth while spending very much time on such 

 speculation. One more ingenious origin may, however, be mentioned. 

 It has been suggested by Alfven that the rays arise from a kind of 

 stellar cyclotron formed by the rotation of a double star. It is 

 supposed that the combination of an electric field of one component 

 of the double star, together with its magnetic field, may lead to the 

 possibility of stable orbits for high-speed electrons very similar in 

 principle to the orbits in the cyclotron of Lawrence; but here again 

 no definite test of this hypothesis is possible. 



