THE ELECTRICAL NATURE OF MATTER. 187 



1. That negative electricity is made up of unit charges 

 called corpuscles, or electrons. 



I. That static electricity is due to the action of these cor- 

 puscles at rest. 



3. That current electricity is due to nothing but these cor- 



puscles in motion, whether through gases, liquids or 

 solids. 



4. That magnetism is a force developed in the ether as 



right angles to the direction 'of motion of the cor- 

 puscles. 



5. That light and other radiations are due to disturbances 



in the surrounding ether caused by a change in the mo- 

 tions of the corpuscles. 



6. That the self-induction of an electric current and the 



mechanical inertia of matter are identical, and that 

 they are due to the electric charge, or corpuscle, in 

 motion. 



7. That mass, or quantity of matter, is simply the ether 



carried along by the corpuscle in its motion, that it is 

 by no means a constant quantity but depends upon 

 the velocity of motion of the corpuscle. 



8. That the atoms of matter, themselves, are made up of the 



same negative charges or corpuscles, each aggregation 

 of corpuscles being surrounded by a sphere of positive 

 electricity. 



9. That, consequently, matter, in its last analysis, is iden- 



tical with electricity. 



We see, then, that the electronic theory accounts for 

 static electricity, current electricity, magnetism, the radi- 

 ations of light, X-rays, etc., inertia, chemical action, the 

 atoms of matter and their peculiar properties as exem- 

 plified in the periodic law, and the phenomena of radio- 

 activity. 



