246 THE REALITIES OF MODERN SCIENCE 



ities, that is, how do they deliver up their charges? 

 (3) Why are these gases diatomic? and (4) Why do 

 normal molecules instead of abnormal molecules com- 

 pose the liberated gases? There is no question as to 

 the mechanism of the transfer of the ions through the 

 liquid, for that is the result merely of superimposing on 

 their normal haphazard motions a directed motion due 

 to the potential of the electrodes. The answers to 

 these questions should be considered as indicative 

 rather than conclusive, for there are many unsettled 

 matters involved. 



(1) The normal molecule in this case consists of two 

 nuclei and their associated electrons. The two nuclei 

 are not combined into one larger nucleus, but are the 

 individual nuclei of hydrogen and chlorine atoms. 

 About neither of them, however, is the configuration 

 of electrons what it would be about isolated atoms of 

 the two component elements. The nuclei pellate and 

 the electrons pellate, but any electron tractates with 

 either of the two nuclei. We are not yet able to form 

 a geometrical picture of such a system, so let us draw 

 an analogy from human relations. Let us consider a 

 political coalition formed by two leaders of exceptional 

 individuality and diverse tendencies. About them 

 are a group of adherents, men who require leadership 

 and are held in the coalition, despite their petty sus- 

 picions of each other, by the attraction of the leaders. 

 The leaders, on the other hand, are kept from diverging 

 by the group about them, whose adherence is to leader- 

 ship itself rather than to any individual leader. Such 

 a coalition may dissolve under the attraction of dis- 

 similar groups and in so doing form two new groups. 



