78 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



of a period, dashing in all directions inside, and 

 rotating with inconceivable velocity, and filling the 

 whole interior of the church with their tumultuous 

 motion." Again : " If an electron be represented 

 by a sphere an inch in diameter, the diameter of an 

 atom of matter on the same scale is a mile and a 

 half. . . ." ' " An atom is not a large thing ; but if it 

 is composed of electrons, the spaces between them 

 are enormous compared with their size — as great 

 relatively as are the spaces between the planets in 

 the solar system." 



According to this new conception of the atom, 

 it is a miniature solar system, with a certain number 

 of negative corpuscles rotating and gyrating like 

 planets round a nucleus, or within a sphere of 

 positive electricity. These negative corpuscles 

 move in definite orbits round the central nucleus 

 or within the sphere, and also spin with tremendous 

 velocity round their own axes ; and the stability 

 of the atom depends on an 'equilibrium of forces. 

 Each element has an atom with a particular number 

 of corpuscles proceeding in definite orbits. 



The hydrogen atom is generally supposed to 

 have a thousand corpuscles, and some of the larger 

 atoms may have two hundred thousand or more. 

 " We ought therefore," writes Le Bon, " to picture 

 to ourselves any body whatever, such as a block of 

 steel or a rigid fragment of rock, as being com- 



