A478 SECTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
TABLE. 
Separation of Components 
Line Wave Length |- So ead u 
Merton ., Gehrcke and Lau | McLennan 
° ANS ° ! 2 | ° | 
Ha 6563 A.U. 145 ALU. °34-cm.-1°126 A.U. °29 cm.71,'154 A.U. °36 em.7 | 
| HB 4861 ,, 1093 arsid wii Outs SO Omcusaey rel ola ss (085, xe aeio Sit ss 
Hy 4341 ,, OSS tenceriy ole ee 1062-4A3) Joie | 
Hé 4101 ,, 04349 nis $20 OND foi ise te0 tos 
The results may be plotted with the wave-length differences as ordinates, and the 
squares of the wave-lengths as abscisse. Had the frequency difference for the 
components of the four wave-lengths been constant and equal to 0°365 cm.—1, the 
values of AA would have registered more or less closely with a straight line through 
the origin. With the results obtained, however, for the separations of the doublet 
components, the values of AA lay close to a curve which when extended cut the zero 
ordinate line at approximately 0.133 x 10° cm.?, which meant that the results 
pointed to a separation of the doublets that vanished at A = 3648 AU, the limiting 
wave-length of the Balmer series. Should this result turn out to be correct it would 
show that the Balmer series of hydrogen should be classified as a principal rather than 
as a subordinate series and that the theory put forward by Sommerfeld is inadequate. 
Dr. Irving Lanemurr.—Dr. Darwin has objected to the theories that have 
attempted to explain the quantum phenomena because such theories seem to 
necessitate electrons that have structures more complicated than clocks. Surely, 
however, we must look for a mechanism underlying the quantum theory, and it seems 
impossible, at least to the Anglo-Saxon mind, to believe that it should depend ~ 
ultimately upon a structure of energy or upon such integral equations as are used in 
determining the stationary orbits in Bohr’s theory. If we are to have a mechanism ~ 
at all it appears logical to look for it within the electron itself, even if this does lead us 
at first to unpleasant complications in our conception of the electron. 
Bohr speaks of a uniquantic or diquantic orbit of an electron, butseems to consider 
that the electron itself does not change in passing from one orbit to another. Is it 
not more logical to think of the orbit as resulting from the properties of the electron 
and to consider that quantum changes occurring in radiation cause discontinuous 
changes in the structure of the electron ? The properties. of isotopes indicate that we 
may disregard the structure of the nucleus and need only consider its total electric 
charge. 
The striking experimental verification of Bohr’s theory, especially in the fine 
structure of the lines of the Balmer series, seems to prove almost without possibility — 
of doubt that the mechanical model proposed must be substantially correct. Neverthe-— 
less, we should learn from the apparently irreconcilable conflict between the wave — 
theory and the quantum theory of radiation that in the present state of science — 
it is not safe to draw such definite conclusions regarding the ultimate mechanism. 
The facts underlying the periodic table of the elements prove that the laws governing — 
the arrangement of electrons in atoms are essentially simple, although secondary 
complications exist much as in the case of the gas.laws. This inherent simplicity 
argues strongly for a static arrangement of the electrons. It seems almost impossible — 
that this simplicity could result from the orbital motion of such numbers of electrons — 
as exist in atoms. It is therefore worth considering whether the simple results of 
Bohr’s theory can be obtained from any reasonable assumptions regarding the 
properties of electrons in a static atom. 
As a simple mathematical analysis shows (Langmuir, Science, 53, 290 (1921), 
we obtain Bohr’s equation for the frequency corresponding to the lines of the Balmer 
series if we assume that there are two forces acting between an electron and a nucleus 
of charge N. The first force is the ordinary.Coulomb inverse square law of force. The 
second force which we may call the ‘‘ quantum force” is a repulsive force equal to 
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