210 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 



chanics of the universe. The influence of atomic compressibilities 

 may be perceived everywhere, and in most cases each fact seems to fit 

 easily and without constraint into its place in the hypothesis. Even 

 apparent exceptions; such as the abnormal bulk of ice, may be ascribed 

 in a reasonable fashion to superposed effects. A detailed discussion 

 of many applications of the theory is impossible here, but a few may 

 be suggested, in order to make clearer its possibilities. 



The satisfying of each valence of an atom would cause a depression 

 on the atomic surface, owing to the pressure exerted by the affinity 

 in that spot. The stronger the affinity, the greater should be this 

 distortion. Evidently this conception gives a new picture of the 

 asymmetric carbon atom, which, combined with four other different 

 atoms, would have upon its surface depressions of four unequal 

 magnitudes, and be twisted into an unsymmetrical tetrahedron. The 

 combining atoms would be held on the faces of the tetrahedron 

 thus formed, instead of impossibly perching upon the several peaks. 

 According to this hypothesis, the carbon atom need not be imagined 

 as a tetrahedron in the first place; it would assume the tetrahedral 

 shape when combined with the other four atoms. One can easily 

 imagine that the development of each new valence would change 

 the affinities previously exercised, somewhat as a second depression 

 in the side of a rubber ball will modify a forcibly caused dimple in 

 some other part. Thus a part of the effect which each new atom 

 has on the affinities of the other atoms already present may be 

 explained. 



Many other physico-chemical phenomena assume a new aspect 

 when viewed from the standpoint of this idea. New notions of the 

 mechanism of the critical phenomena, surface tension, ductility, 

 malleability, tenacity, and coefficient of expansion are gamed. The 

 peculiar relations of material and light, such as magnetic rotation, 

 fluorescence, partial absorption, and so forth, may be referred to 

 the modified vibrations of distorted atoms. The deviations from 

 the exact fulfillment of many older generalizations concerning volume 

 (such as the equation of van der Waals already cited, the comparative 

 volumes of aqueous solutions, especially of electrolytically disso- 

 ciated substances, 1 and the variations in the crystal forms of isomor- 

 phous substances) are seen to be a foregone conclusion. Moreover, 

 the theory, although not necessarily dependent on the modern belief 

 that atoms are built up of numbers of much smaller corpuscles, is 

 consistent with that belief, for would not such an entity be 

 compressible ? 



The more closely the actual data are studied, the more plausible 

 the hypothesis of compressible atoms appears. Ten years' experience 



i Baxter has very recently discussed this matter from the point of view of the theory of compressible 

 atoms. (Journal American Chemical Society, 1911, vol. 33, p. 922.) 



