46 TWO NEW WORLDS 



several hundred or even thousand, though only two 

 or three of these are ever detached from them. They 

 revolve in all kinds of orbits with various planes, and 

 not in the same direction, except in the case of the 

 magnetic substances. Their charges are neutralised 

 by the positive charge of the central atom, so that 

 at considerable distances they exert no electrostatic 

 action. They may still, however, exert a magnetic 

 action. For if the electrons revolve in the same 

 sense, they constitute a molecular magnet, which 

 attracts or repels similar systems, and may strengthen 

 or oppose the gravitational attraction between them. 

 But when two such systems come close together, 

 the electrons, being outermost, act upon each other 

 with the well-known electrostatic repulsion. All 

 molecular phenomena point clearly to an attraction 

 between atoms which gives way to a repulsion at 

 close quarters, and an explanation of this rule, 

 although beset with many difficulties, must be 

 looked for in some such line of reasoning. 



The atoms will take up positions of equilibrium 

 dictated by their gravitational and magnetic attrac- 

 tion and electrostatic repulsion. The systems of 

 equilibrium will obviously depend upon the number 

 of electrons and their orbits, and will vary from one 

 species of atoms to another. The para-magnetic 

 atoms, or those whose electrons revolve in an ecliptic 

 plane like our planets, will form lines or closed 

 chains in obedience to their magnetic attraction. 



