76 PHYSICS OF MATTER 



magnetic field and no radiation; and it seems probable that in the 

 actual case the radiation of internal energy is extremely small, and 

 the total internal energy may be supposed to be so enormous com- 

 pared with the energy of translation of the atom due to temperature 

 that we may expect no appreciable change in the radiation of internal 

 energy of the atom, whatever the temperature may be. 



That component of the vibration of a corpuscle which is radial 

 within the atom, and is set up by the impact of one atom against 

 another, seems to furnish the great mass of radiated energy. This 

 radiation must also react on the motion of the atom as a whole, taking 

 away from the translatory energy of the atom. 



The question how the Boltzmann law of partition of energy be- 

 tween the various degrees of freedom will apply to molecules made 

 up of such atoms as are here conceived is an interesting and im- 

 portant one. Is it possible that the cloud, as Lord Kelvin calls it, 

 resting on the kinetic theory of gases may be dissipated by the new 

 theory? 



This theory of the atom seems also to explain the possibility of 

 the production of spectra of great complexity. It is to be hoped 

 that Balmer's formula and Rydberg's laws of the grouping of lines 

 in spectra may be shown to be the natural outcome of the system 

 of vibration possible in such an atom. 



We are startled at first by the very audacity of this theory, seeming 

 as it does to upset the old point of view, and seek the explanation 

 of matter and its laws in terms of the properties of ether and elec- 

 tricity, instead of trying to unravel the secrets of electricity and 

 ether in terms of matter and motion. 



Only a few years ago it was thought that the electromagnetic 

 theory of light must be rationalized by giving a mechanical explan- 

 ation of the various phenomena of the ether, or by showing at least 

 that such an explanation was possible. Witness Maxwell's won- 

 derfully ingenious mechanical model illustrating the phenomena 

 of magnetism, induced currents, and the propagation of electro- 

 magnetic waves. 



But is it necessary to regard the mechanical explanation as the 

 only sound one ? If electricity and ether are fundamental entities 

 underlying all matter and material phenomena, is it not more logical 

 to find a basis for the mechanical laws in some more fundamental 

 laws of ether and electricity which must be accepted as the primary 

 postulates? 



In all this development of the atomic view of matter, chemistry 

 and physics have gone hand in hand. The atomic theory of Dalton 

 has been the basis on which both sciences have worked. Avogadro's 

 law for gases has been reached not only by chemical evidence, but 

 has been raised to the rank of a mechanical deduction from the kinetic 



