294 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



molecules or molecular groups are more or less 

 stable. The higher and higher vibrations — within 

 these molecular groups — set up by collision with other 

 molecules must ultimately reach a limit when they 

 cannot be given up to the aether ; for if the aether 

 has a molecular structure, there must be a limit 

 to the frequency of vibrations which it will trans- 

 mit. Thus the energy of the high frequency vibra- 

 tions will accumulate in the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of the source of vibration. When the ampli- 

 tude becomes very great as the energy is not 

 radiated away, the corpuscle is shot off and we 

 have a or /S rays according as the corpuscle is 

 positive or negative ; whilst the 7 rays are merely 

 ultra-ultra-violet vibrations which are not too rapid 

 to be refused transmission by the aether. The 

 wave-length of vibrations which are just taken up 

 by the aether must be of the order of magnitude 

 of the distance between its consecutive particles. 

 This theory, which I have been working at for 

 some time past, has the advantage of fitting in 

 with the facts of radio-activity, of phosphorescence 

 and of bridging over the serious difficulty between 

 the facts of luminosity as revealed by the spectro- 

 scope and the number of degrees of freedom, 

 according to the kinetic theory, in a luminous 

 gas. 



