January 15, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



91 



that the effect of constant association of 

 these elements is one of the strongest 

 proofs that can be found of the community 

 of their origin. Besides, it is not an iso- 

 lated fact ; we can find other examples such 

 as the habitual association in minerals of 

 tantalum, niobium and titanium." 



Sir John Herschel thought that all the 

 atoms were alike and the elements, as we 

 know them, 'have the stamp of the manu- 

 factured article.' 



Hartley* this year says : ' It is more than 

 twenty years since the study of homology 

 in spectra led me to the conviction that the 

 chemical atoms are not the ultimate par- 

 ticles of matter, and that they have a com- 

 plex constitution.' 



The peculiar discharge from the nega- 

 tive electrodes of a vacuum tube was in- 

 vestigated many years ago by Hittorf and 

 Crookes, who arrived at the conclusion that 

 it was composed of streams of charged 

 particles. All are familiar with the very 

 recent proposed ' electrons ' and ' corpuscles ' 

 resulting from the beautiful physical re- 

 searches of Lodge and J. J. Thomson-. 

 These appear to have caused a trembling in 

 the belief of many in the immutability of 

 the atom, and the complete abandonment 

 of the atom is seriously discussed by 

 others. 



"If the electrons of all elements are ex- 

 actly alike, or, in other words, if there is 

 but one matter, just as there is but one 

 force, and if the elements be biit the various 

 manifestations of that one matter, due to 

 a different orbital arrangement of the elec- 

 trons, it would seem that we are fast re- 

 turning to the conceptions of the mid- 

 dle-aged alchemist. The transmutation of 

 metals involves but the modification of the 

 arrangement of the electrons." Such ef- 



* Address before the Chemical Section, British 

 Association, Southport meeting, September, 1903, 

 Chem. Neics, 88, 154. 



forts as Fittica's* should not be treated 

 with scorn, but given careful examination 

 and merited consideration, as Winkler f 

 gave his. Science should thus ever be 'a 

 foe of raw haste, half-sister to delay. 't 



Although by chemical means, so far, we 

 have been unable to break up the atoms, 

 apparently electrical energy, in the form 

 of cathode rays, for example, follows the 

 grain of atomic structure. Some advanced 

 thinkers look upon the atoms as disem- 

 bodied charges of electricity. Ostwald 

 has taught it. Electric charges are known 

 only as united to matter, yet Johnstone, 

 Stoney and Larmor have speculated on the 

 properties of such charges isolated. ' ' Such 

 a charge is inertia, even though attached 

 to no matter, and the increase of inertia 

 of a body due to electrification has been 

 calculated by both Thomson and Oliver 

 Heaviside, the conception accordingly 

 being advanced that all inertia is electrical 

 and that matter, as we know it, is built 

 up of interlocked positive and negative 

 electrons. If it were possible in any mass 

 of matter to separate these electrons then 

 matter would disappear and there would 

 remain merely two enormous charges of 

 electricity." We are aware of phenomena 

 attributed to the negative electrons; we 

 await anxiously the announcement of the 

 positive electrons. But here the water is 

 deep and one may not swim too well. 



We do know, however, as A. A. Noyes 

 says,§ that 'there exists in the universe 

 some thing or things other than matter 

 which, by association with it, give rise to 

 the changes in properties which bodies ex- 

 hibit, and give them power of producing 

 changes in the properties* of other bodies.' 



* ' Black Phosphorus, or Conversion of Phos- 

 phorus into Arsenic,' Chem. News, 81, 257; 82, 

 166. 



f Berichte, 33, 10; Chem. News, 81, 305. 



t Van Dyke in ' The Ruling Passion.' 



I ' General Principles of Physical Science,' p. 13, 

 1902. 



