298 



NA TURE 



[January 25, 1900 



Since the kathode rays produce luminous effects their 

 path can be traced, hence it is known that they are de- 

 flected in a magnetic field. This deflection depends 

 upon the mass of each particle and the electric charge it 

 carries, that is, upon their ratio, inle. This ratio Prof. 

 J. J. Thomson finds to be about one-seven-hundredth of 

 the corresponding value for the hydrogen ion in ordinary 

 electrolysis. 



At the same time it has been found by Prof. J. J. 

 Thomson and Mr. Townsend that the electric charge e is 

 the same for kathode rays and a hydrogen ion. The 

 mle in fiact may be regarded as independent of the nature 

 of the gas. Since then the mle of the hydrogen ion is 

 700 times greater than in the case of kathode particles, 

 the w, the smallest mass whose existence Prof J. J. 

 Thomson has glimpsed, can only be about one-seven- 

 hundredth of the hydrogen ion. 



Prof J. J. Thomson writes :— ^ 



"The explanation which seems to me to account in the 

 most simple and straightforward manner for the facts is 

 founded on a view of the constitution of the chemical 

 elements which has been favourably entertained by many 

 chemists ; this view is that the atoms of the different 

 chemical elements are different aggregations of atoms of 

 the same kind. In the form in which this hypothesis was 

 enunciated by Prout, the atoms of the different elements 

 were hydrogen atoms ; in this precise form the hypothesis 

 is not tenable, but if we substitute for hydrogen some un- 

 known primordial substance X, there is nothing known 

 which is inconsistent with this hypothesis, which is one 

 that has been recently supported by Sir Norman Lockyer 

 for reasons derived from the study of the stellar spectra." 

 * * # * # 



" Thus on this view we have in the kathode rays matter 

 in a new state, a state in which the subdivision of matter 

 is carried very much further than in the ordinary gaseous 

 state : a state in which all matter — that is, matter derived 

 from different sources such as hydrogen, oxygen, &c. — 

 is of one and the same kind, this matter being the sub- 

 stance from which all the chemical elements are built up. 

 ***** 



"The smallness of the value inje is, I think, due to the 

 largeness of e as well as the smallness of m. There 

 seems to me to be some evidence that the charges 

 carried by the corpuscles in the atom are large compared 

 with those carried by the ions of an electrolyte." 



Thus the whole question of dissociation has been 

 advanced because while on the chemical view we have 

 to deal with intrinsically different kinds of matter from 

 element to element, on the vfew of Prof. J. J. Thomson m is 

 a constant for every element, reminding one of Rydberg's 

 general formula for series in which Nq is practically a 

 constant for every element, although Rydberg acknow- 

 ledges slight variations which may be due to errors of 

 observation. 



Prof J. J. Thomson is thus led to the following view of 

 the differences in construction of a simple "atom" and a 

 compound "molecule" : 



" In the molecule of HCl, for example, I picture the 

 components of the hydrogen atoms as held together by 

 a great number of tubes of electrostatic force ; the com- 

 ponents of the chlorine atom are similarly held together, 

 while only one stray tube binds the hydrogen atom to 

 the chlorine atom." 



Dr. Preston's results on the magnetic perturbation of 

 lines, to which I have already referred, leads him to the 

 same general conclusions as those arrived at by Prof. J. T. 

 Thomson in favour of the view of dissociation. He says : — 



" It may be, indeed, that all ions are fundamentally 

 the same, and that differences in the value of ^/;«, or in 

 the character of the vibrations emitted by them, or in 



"^ Phil. Ma^., vol. xliv. p. 311, October 1897. 



NO. 1578, VOL. 61] 



the spectral lines produced by them, may really arise 

 from the manner in which they are associated together 

 in building up the atom." 



And again : — 



" We have, I think, reasonable hope that the time 

 is fast approaching when intimate relations, if not 

 identities, will be seen to exist between forms of matter 

 which have heretofore been considered as quite distinct. 

 Important spectroscopic information pointing in this 

 same direction has been gleaned through a long series of 

 observations by Sir Norman Lockyer on the spectra of 

 the fixed stars, and on the different spectra yielded by 

 the same substance at different temperatures. These 

 observations lend some support to the idea, so long 

 entertained merely as a speculation, that all the various 

 kinds of matter, all the various so-called chemical 

 elements, may be built up in some way of the same 

 fundamental substance" 



The Three Ways of Inorganic Evolution. 

 At the present time, then, we have before us three 



suggested ways of inorganic evolution. 



Taking the chemical view, this may depend on 



(i) Polymerisation, or the combination of similar 



chemical molecules, or 



(2) The combination of dissimilar chemical molecules. 

 In the new physical view all this is changed into 



(3) The gradual building up of physical complexes from 

 similar particles associated with the presence of electricity. 



In this last conception we have the material world, up 

 to the highest complex, built up of the same matter under 

 the same laws ; as in spectrum analysis there is no 

 special abrupt change between the phenomena presented 

 by the simple and compound bodies of the chemist, so 

 also in the new view there is no break in the order of 

 material evolution from end to end. 



Certainly the new view seems competent to throw 

 light on many facts which lacked explanation on the old 

 one, by whatever method of evolution the higher com- 

 plexes were assumed to be brought about. Because on 

 the ionic theory we can imagine several first forms, so 

 that the question of descetit comes later with the intro- 

 duction of more complex systems. These various first 

 forms bring about the possibility of evolution along 

 several parallel lines, as well as of the possibility of an 

 infinite number of intercrossings. In this connection we 

 must not forget that the constituents of the reversing 

 layer of Bellatrix and of protoplasm are nearly identical, 

 while the particular forms of matter of which they are 

 composed make so little show in the sun. 



The analogy before suggested between the earth and 

 moon, and the central congeries of material units and 

 the ion revolving round it, suggests that the ion may be 

 the more constant in its structure, and that it is to a large 

 extent to the varying mass charge representing the centre 

 of force that spectral changes are due. It may be that the 

 subordinate " series" indicate that very small variations 

 of complexity are possible, as well as greater ones. 



In the light of this analogy, the ions visible in the 

 simple spectra of the hottest stars are those associated 

 with the smallest centres of force. These are, so far as 

 we know at present, hydrogen, helium, asterium, oxygen 

 and nitrogen among the gases ; carbon and silicium, and 

 calcium, magnesium and sodium among the metals, in 

 the forms we study by their spectra at the highest tem- 

 peratures we can employ in our laboratories. 



As the stars cool larger aggregates of material units 

 in the centres of force round which these ions revolve be- 

 come possible, and hence the complexity of the spectrum 

 of Uranium and of the sun, representing a cool star, are 

 both explained by the same process, the various stages 

 of which can be reproduced in the reverse direction by 

 various degrees of dissociation. 



Norman Lockyer. 



