﻿324 Dr. A. 0. Orehore on the 



the series of spectral lines, notably those o£ H and He, yet it 

 may fairly be said that luminous spectra have not been ex- 

 plained by any atomic theory. Nicholson * has shown in a 

 seemingly conclusive manner that these spectra are not 

 really accounted for on Bohr's hypothesis. It is not sur- 

 prising that it is difficult to account for light spectra, but it 

 should not be inferred that there is not sufficient basis in 

 this theory for a possible explanation. The range of X-ray 

 frequencies is from 1,000 to 10,000 or more times greater 

 than the frequencies of light, and it becomes necessary to 

 find periods of a comparatively low order of magnitude. 

 An estimate of the values of these slower or luminous 

 frequencies in the theoretical atom containing a single elec- 

 tron and representing hydrogen is given below, but it i& 

 evident that there must be many periods of a low order in 

 more complex atoms that are not easily specified. Each 

 atom must in fact be considered as a little gyroscope having 

 several rings or wheels of very great but different periods 

 of rotation. If the axis of rotation is disturbed by any cause 

 certain nutations and precessions will necessarily occur. 



In the theory of the ordinary gyroscope having a rigid 

 wheel there are two classes of periods due to the action of 

 external forces, the frequencies of the one being independent 

 of the external forces, and of the other dependent upon 

 them. If the gas giving the spectrum consists of individual 

 atoms, as may be the case with He, then these periods caused 

 by external forces may be of the first class and have constant 

 values whatever the outside disturbing force may be, they 

 being determined solely by the properties of the atom itself. 

 If the gas consists almost entirely of molecules of more than 

 one atom, then additional periods of a fixed value should be 

 obtained because of the constant effect of the atoms upon one 

 another. The gyroscopic theory of these atoms is much more 

 intricate than that of a rigid wheel. There is a flexible 

 rather than a rigid connexion between the electrons, and it 

 is necessary to have a more definite knowledge of the cause 

 which gives rise to the existence of quanta, or which holds 

 each electron to a constant angular moment of momentum, if 

 this is a fact. 



Our theory has enabled us to make a complete specification 

 of the hydrogen atom consisting of one electron within the 

 positive electricity, determining the volume of the positive 

 electricity, the radius of the orbit, and the frequency of 

 revolution of the electron, as well as the relative positions of 



* J. W. Nicholson, Phil. Mag. July 1914, p. 90. 



