CH. XVIL] STRUCTURE OF ATOM 161 



valid, how do the parts of an electron hold together ? 

 But nobody seems to ask this question ; and I see no 

 reason. why it should be asked, because there is no 

 evidence that the parts of an electron are mutually 

 repulsive there is no real evidence as yet that it 

 has parts at all. What we know is that different 

 electrons repel each other, and are attracted by 

 positive charges, but we do not know that the parts 

 of one electron repel each other ; in fact we know 

 nothing about the parts of an electron. The lines 

 of force, or field of force, representing the activity 

 of an electron, may be entirely outside itself, and 

 need not penetrate into its interior at all : it may 

 be for all electrical purposes an indivisible unit. 



But then, supposing all this admitted for a negative 

 charge, why should it not be extended to cover a 

 positive charge also ? Why should the parts of a 

 positive unit be mutually repulsive ? It is no answer 

 to say that the unit is bigger, unless the electron is 

 thought of as a geometrical point ; the argument 

 about parts is just as valid in the one case as in 

 the other, and no more so. What we require is some 

 conception as to the nature of the positive charge, 

 and that I confess is wanting ; though " an 

 entanglement of finite size" seems to Larmor quite 

 possible and natural ; and anyhow an argument 

 against its existence based upon the assumed repul- 

 siveness of its parts does not seem to be an argument 

 of any weight. 



Another suggestion can be made : and that is that 

 the main bulk of the atom, in which electrons are 

 embedded, consists not of positive electricity alone 

 but of a close admixture or combination of positive 

 and negative electricities inseparable and as it were 

 rigidly connected behaving to outside forces like the 



L.E. 



