Does Matter Exist? 



discs, the anode and the kathode ; a practically 

 complete vacuum has been produced in the bulb, 

 leaving barely one millionth of the gas which 

 originally filled it, after which the bulb was 

 closed. If we now send an electric current 

 through it from the anode to the kathode mar- 

 vellous things are to be observed. Outside the 

 tube the marvel consists in what everybody knows 

 as X rays or Rontgen rays. We shall not describe 

 them, but merely recall the fact that to-day physi- 

 cists attribute them to movements of the ether, 

 propagated in isolated waves, whereas luminous 

 waves are propagated in regular and equidistant 

 series. The difference between light and the 

 X rays is therefore comparable to the difference 

 between the regular sound of a musical instru- 

 ment and the rattle of musketry. Other equally 

 extraordinary phenomena, though of an entirely 

 different nature, occur inside the tube. From 

 the kathode, and perpendicularly to its surface, a 

 flow of something escapes, and continues to move 

 in a straight line as long as it finds space before 

 it in the tube. This kathode flow carries with it 

 negative electricity, which can be collected and 

 its quantity measured. At the same time, in 



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