ELECTRONS 67 



we form any conception at all, not fall far short 

 of Radiant Matter ; and as in the last conversion 

 many qualities were lost, so here also many more 

 would disappear." 



This seems to me one of the most wonderful 

 forecasts ever made, and within fifty years proof 

 of its correctness began to appear. 



In 1865 Flacker and Hittorf discovered that 

 certain elementary substances, when subjected to 

 great heat, furnished spectra simpler than and 

 quite unlike the spectra obtained at ordinary 

 temperatures ; and it was soon found, moreover, 

 that similar abnormal spectra were furnished by 

 elements in the chromosphere of the sun and in 

 the stars. Now, since the spectrum of an element 

 certainly depends on its fundamental constitution, 

 it follows that a radical change in the spectrum of 

 an element certainly indicates a radical change in 

 the element itself ; and thus a fair presumption 

 was established that, under certain conditions, 

 matter may undergo a constitutional alteration, and 

 pass from the gaseous into a more primitive or 

 radiant state. Prout and Lockyer maintained 

 that this more primitive matter consisted of 

 dissociated atoms^ and was the materia prima so 

 long sought. 



In 1872 Herbert Spencer affirmed: "the 

 properties of the different elements result from 



