138 Prof. A. M c Aulay on Spontaneous Generation 



We have now to describe what conceivably follows this 

 chaotic or nebulous stage. It is conceivable of course that 

 a state might evolve in which large finite regions of the 

 solid forming continuous volumes were characterized by 

 south vallev conditions. Instead we suppose, as stated just 

 now, that throughout the vastly greater portion of space the 

 lake conditions come to prevail, while such exceptional 

 singularities given by the south valley as occur concentrate 

 about points, lines, and surfaces ; these three singularities 

 may be called knots, threads, and webs. If One of these 

 conditions occurs it will give rise to two opposing tendencies, 

 and we have to make the pure assumption that these result 

 in a stable state for the sether as a whole. The local tendency 

 at a point of the solid where the south valley conditions hold 

 will be for the corresponding representative point on the 

 diagram to run down the valley. But it can only do so by 

 distorting neighbouring regions in which lake conditions 

 hold, and that the first mentioned diagram point may run 

 down the valley, the points representing the lake conditions 

 will have to rise towards the south saddle. Thus local con- 

 ditions tend in one direction and the reaction of the sether 

 as a whole tends in the opposite, the result being by our 

 assumption stability for the sether as a whole. 



A remarkable and very suggestive fact is indicated by the 

 dotted straight lines which divide the diagram into four 

 quadrants. The north-east quadrant contains the whole lake, 

 the south-east the whole south valley. It is proved below 

 that for all points in the north-east quadrant there is an 

 elastic resistance to the establishment of curl, and for all 

 points in the other quadrants the tendency is the converse of 

 this, or curl is attracted to regions of space represented by 

 points in the south valley. As will appear in the argument 

 below this is precisely the condition required to make 

 Sir J. Larmor's intrinsic radial curl intelligible. 



Threads and webs inherently tend to shrink. It seems 

 certain, therefore, that they cannot exist permanently except 

 when projecting from knots. Finally, we come to believe 

 electrons to be knots connected in systems by threads (or w r ebs 

 which seem to behave like collections of threads) pulling 

 them together. 



The undoubted shrinking tendencies of webs and threads, 

 and the undoubted attraction of curl to the middle of webs 

 and threads follows from no highly artificial constitution for 

 the solid, but from what can only be called as simple a con- 

 stitution as it is possible to give. We will explain this 

 statement in some detail. 



