328 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 



affected in the same manner as if very rapid light 

 waves were falling upon it, the result of which 

 would be ionisation. 



The glowing particles in a phosphorescent gas, 

 and the emanation from thorium oxide, are 

 instances of this state of things. 



The ionisation caused by the phosphorescent 

 molecules is due to collision, notwithstanding that 

 these molecules move with a small velocity ; but 

 the manner in which the radiation occurs is of 

 a different nature. The rotations of the electrons 

 of the phosphorescent molecules and the thorium 

 emanation can part with the energy, particularly 

 at a collision. 



This is just the phenomenon we have been in 

 search of to account for the energy which ought 

 to be frittered away by collisions. The energy 

 accumulates in the atom, by repeated collisions, on 

 the supposition that the vibrations are converted 

 into higher and higher rotations of the electrons, 

 till the amount of energy stored up is very great, 

 when the atom then also parts with the energy 

 by collision in the form of radiation. 



If a corpuscle approaches an atom such as this, 

 a Faraday tube extends between the two, regard- 

 ing the tube as possessing the properties of a 

 bundle of vortex filaments in an irrotationally 

 moving liquid. When the rotating electrons, form- 

 ing, as it were, a gyrostatic system in the atom, 

 rotate with this immense velocity, the concentra- 

 tion of the vortex filaments along the axis of 



