320 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



corpuscle to the gyrostatic system, and in all proba- 

 bility different lines in the spectrum are due to 

 different atoms, as the experiments of Schuster 

 and Hemsalech on the mechanism of the spark 

 seem to show {Philosophical Transactions, A, 

 1899).! 



They found that when photographs of the spec- 

 trum of a spark between metal electrodes were 

 taken upon a rapidly moving film, the lines in 

 the spectrum are not aU curved to the same 

 extent, but that some of the short lines in the 

 spectra of the metal electrodes are very much 

 curved whilst others are not so, these lines form- 

 ing the spectra of the same element. It seems 

 justifiable to infer from this that the various lines 

 in the spectrum of an element are not given out 

 by a single atom, but by different atoms moving 

 with different velocities, the faster ones, and pre- 

 sumably also the smaller ones, giving the more 

 refrangible rays. The atoms of an element need 

 not be all of the same size, but more probably 

 range themselves round a certain average value. 

 The period of the vibration which the atom will 

 communicate to the aether ,will depend only upon 

 the distance of the corpuscle from the gyrostatic 

 system, so that if ^the corpuscle always fixes itself at 

 the same distance, the new period of the gyrostat 

 will always be the same. The atom and the 



1 The doublets are more displaced than the triplets ; yet 

 the displacements of corresponding lines in zinc and cadmium 

 are the same. 



