56 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 65 



Quite another field opens up before this theory in the physical 

 properties of matter, for it has professed to take into account, in a 

 qualitative way, most or all of the factors in the action of atoms upon 

 one another. The interaction of magnetons and " positive spheres " 

 should account not only for the chemical properties of the elements 

 and their compounds, but also for their melting and boiling points, 

 tenacities, atomic volumes under various conditions (already touched 

 upon in §§14, 15), electrical conductivities, and, above all, for their 

 magnetic properties (see §§2, 13 and Part V). It is evident, how- 

 ever, that the application of the theory to the details of these phe- 

 nomena must be a very complex and difficult matter. 



I will conclude this part of the work by summarizing the assump- 

 tions made in the course of it, and the working material derived 

 from them. 



ASSUMPTIONS 



1. The atom is made up of a positive part and magnetons, which 

 are ring-shaped negative charges (hitherto called electrons and sup- 

 posed to be spherical or concentrated at a point) rotating with a 

 peripheral velocity of the order of that of light, their radii being 

 comparable with but less than that of the atom (§i). Their rotation 

 is independent of any attracting positive charge. 



2. The positive part of the atom is a sphere of uniform positive 

 electrification, with the properties of an elastic solid (§§7, 14), and 

 with a volume normally proportional to the number of magnetons it 

 contains (§1). It is surrounded by an atmosphere or envelope of 

 very low charge density, which is also elastic (§15). 



3. The formation of the group of eight (of low magnetic energy), 

 which is practically proved for a system of eight magnetons, is 

 assumed to take place also in atoms containing more than eight. 

 [This is not altogether an assumption, as the reasoning in §7 shows.] 



4. To explain the occurrence of long periods in the Periodic 

 Scheme, and at the same time the properties of the elements in these 

 periods (§§13, 15), it is necessary to assume that there is in certain 

 cases a hindrance to the formation of a group of eight when it is 

 normally due. [An arbitrary assumption : see §7.] 



The last two, although they come early in the development of the 

 theory, are assumptions which it would be very desirable to avoid : 

 further study of the behavior of magnetons or some alteration in the 

 more fundamental assumptions may make this possible. 



These assumptions have furnished the following factors in the 

 behavior of magnetons, atoms, and molecules : 



