A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



sufficing. There is something sublime about this mag- 

 nificient isolation, this splendid self-reliance, this un- 

 daunted and undauntable self-sufficiency these are 

 traits which the world is wont to ascribe to beings 

 more than mortal. But let us pause lest we push too 

 far into the old, discredited territory of metaphysics. 



PROFESSOR J. J. THOMPSON AND THE NATURE OF ELEC- 

 TRICITY 



Many fascinating questions suggest themselves in 

 connection with these strange, new elements new, 

 of course, only in the sense of human knowledge 

 which all these centuries have been about us, yet which 

 have managed until now to keep themselves as invisible 

 and as intangible as spirits. Have these celibate atoms 

 remained thus always isolated, taking no part in world- 

 building ? Are they destined throughout the sweep of 

 time to keep up this celibate existence ? And why do 

 these elements alone refuse all fellowship, while the 

 atoms of all the other seventy-odd known elements 

 seek out mates under proper conditions with unvary- 

 ing avidity? 



It is perhaps not possible fully to answer these ques- 

 tions as yet, but recent studies in somewhat divergent 

 fields give us suggestive clews to some of them. I 

 refer in particular to the studies in reference to the 

 passage of electricity through liquids and gases and 

 to the observations on radio-activity. The most con- 

 spicuous worker in the field of electricity is Professor 

 J. J. Thompson, who for many years has had charge 

 of the Cavendish laboratory at Cambridge. In briefly 

 reviewing certain phases of his work we shall find our- 



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