114 THE UNIVERSE 



And streams of these infinitesimal ions may con- 

 stitute the swift and invisible currents of electricity 

 which produce all natural phenomena. Prof. Blake, 

 of the Kansas University, says: " Crookes called 

 his cathode streams the fourth form of matter, 

 but first to-day is such a state proven. Now, we 

 must recognize at the beginning of this twentieth 

 century a new form of matter. We have to deal 

 with negatively charged particles so small that 

 they have free paths of motion even among the 

 atoms of substances." 



As electric currents have free paths of motion 

 even among the atoms of matter, these ions or cor- 

 puscles must be one form of electricity and must 

 be both positive and negative, though the negative 

 ions attract the most attention. I am glad to 

 find science coming to my conclusions as to the 

 fourth state of matter. But instead of calling 

 it electric ions, electrons or Thomson corpuscles, it 

 should be named electro-magnetic ether. It may 

 be that science has at last discovered what elec- 

 tricity is, and that it consists of these infini- 

 tesimal corpuscles. Prof. Blake says: "These ions 

 or corpuscles shatter into charged gases the mole- 

 cules of gases and ionize the gases and make them 

 conductors of electricity; they raise gases to in- 

 candescence and make them light-giving sources; 

 they form nuclei about which matter will aggre- 

 gate and condense; they seem to explain some of 

 the most stupendous and perplexing problems 

 in cosmic physics such as the cause of the sun's 

 corona, the spread of the comet's tail, the source 

 of the meteors, the fantastic play of the auroras, 

 whence the electric displays of our atmosphere, the 



