12 TWO NEW WORLDS 



expectation of finding everything in a wild whirl 

 and turmoil, and here we find ourselves entirely 

 mistaken. Our electron rolls through space as 

 leisurely and majestically as the earth appeared to 

 do. When one revolution is completed, another is 

 begun; and so it goes on for a thousand million 

 "years" perhaps years measured by the revolu- 

 tions of the electron. This vast period covers but 

 a millionth of one terrestrial second, it is true, but 

 how could we know that? We no longer measure 

 time by the terrestrial scale. We measure it on the 

 same principle, but our scale is reduced 10 22 times ; 

 and if we could measure the earthly year, it would 

 appear to us to be an immense period stretching 

 over 10,000 trillion infra-years. 



We could still talk about a speed of 1 cm. per 

 second, but since the centimetre would be derived 

 from the electron instead of the earth, it wpuld be 

 10~ 22 of a terrestrial centimetre. It should, there- 

 fore, be called an "infra-centimetre." The new 

 second should also be called an "infra-second." 

 But velocities so measured would be really equal 

 if measured in the same figures. Thus, a velocity 

 of 1 infra-cm, per infra-second is exactly equal to a 

 velocity of 1 cm. per second. And another of the 

 curious coincidences brought out by this specula- 

 tion is that the velocities prevalent in both worlds 

 are substantially tlie same, both relatively and 

 absolutely. 



