84 SCIENCE AND IMMORTALITY 



The question may be asked — What reason have 

 we to believe in this amazing agility of corpuscles ? 

 The belief is founded on just such a basis as our 

 belief in the movement of the earth and planets. 

 The belief explains and unifies various facts 

 which without it are inexplicable and incoherent. 

 Especially does it explain the extraordinary facts 

 of radio-activity, and the tremendous energy 

 displayed by the corpuscles. How could the 

 corpuscles start from " scratch," so to speak, with 

 a velocity of 20,000 to 1 50,000 miles a second ? 

 It is inconceivable. But if we consider that the 

 corpuscles have been spinning with tremendous 

 velocity in definite orbits, it is easy to understand 

 how orbital might be converted into tangential 

 velocity. " To explain the phenomena of radia- 

 tion it is necessary^'' says W. C. D. Whetham, 

 " to suppose that the electrified corpuscles — the 

 electrons — are in rapid orbital and oscillatory 

 motion within the atom ; that, for example, the 

 electrons whirl round their orbits as the planets 

 swing round the sun." 



Certainly the energy and velocity of the atomic 

 dust requires some explanation. Infinitesimal par- 

 ticles flying ofF from decaying atoms may seem 

 very insignificant things, but they are tokens of 

 an energy so great as to be almost incredible. 

 When an atom dissociates, the corpuscles are 



