322 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



Then 



n —n K P^ 



— = -^ — when P is the polarisation and K = constant. 



Hence 



and w = Wo(l ' -^pi)' 



Wn ~ 4 4 



which agrees with the known relation between the 

 frequencies discovered by Balmer. 



P is proportional to the number of corpuscles in 

 the neighbourhood of the nucleus. 



The value of tiq depends upon the mass of the 

 atom or nucleus. The researches of Ramage [Proc. 

 Roy. Soc, vol. Ixx.) show that when comparing 

 the spectra of each group, the positions of the 

 strongest lines, and of the others in order, change 

 regularly with the increase in the atomic mass 

 of the metals, the lines being towards the less re- 

 frangible end of the spectrum. 



It has already been pointed out that the change 

 of refrangibility of light in any given substance 

 may be attributed to a difference in the mass 

 of the molecular agglomerations when actually 

 radiating, and those that absorb the ultra-violet 

 rays which give rise to the molecular com- 

 plexities. 



An effect similar to that of the change of 

 refrangibility, according to Stokes' Law, from 

 higher to lower frequency is known to take place 

 in the spectrum of a gas by increase of pressure 

 (Humphrey and Mohler, Astro-physical Journal, 

 1896). This phenomenon admits of an explanation 



