Chemistry and Physics. 65 



number of immeasurably small ultimate or rather ultimatissimate 

 particles gradually accreting out of ' formless stuff,' aud moving 

 with inconceivable velocity in all directions. We find those parti- 

 cles which approximately have the same rate and modes of move- 

 ment beginning to heap themselves together by virtue of that ill- 

 understood tendency through which like and like come together." 

 One of the first results of this massing tendency is the forma- 

 tion of certain nodal points in space, between which occur ap- 

 proximately void intervals. The first step in differentiation hav- 

 ing been achieved, the ultimate particles have commenced to vi- 

 brate in their new-born energy in all directions and with veloci- 

 ties ranging from zero to infinity. " The slower particles will 

 obstruct the quicker, the more rapid will rush up to the laggards 

 in front, and we shall soon have groups forming in different 

 parts of space. The constituents of each group whose rate of 

 vibration is not in accord with the mean rate of the bulk of the 

 components of that group will work to the outside and be thrown 

 off, to find other groups with which they are more in harmony. 

 In time, therefore, a condition of stability is established between 

 the various groups, and we may call these the molecules of our 

 present system of elementary bodies." Supposing the constitu- 

 ent atoms of these molecules not to have been gifted originally 

 with exactly the same speed or amplitude of vibration, they will 

 form a group, collected around the mean value, these groupings 

 representing what are at present called elements, but which the 

 author conjectures may be made up, each of an element and of a 

 certain number of meta-elements, or each of a whole group of 

 meta-elements. In considering the question of periodicity, Mr. 

 Crookes modified somewhat the diagram of his Birmingham ad- 

 dress. Thei*e the action of the two forces upon the original pro- 

 tyle was pictured, " one being time, accompanied by a lowering 

 of temperature ; the other, swinging to and fro like a mighty 

 pendulum having periodic cycles of ebb and swell, rest and activ- 

 ity, being intimately connected with the imponderable matter, 

 essence or source of energy we call electricity." In order to in- 

 troduce the third factor, space, into the diagram, a tvi-dimen- 

 sional curve is required ; and since the curve must pass through 

 a point neutral to electricity and chemical energy twice in each 

 cycle, a curve is selected which fore-shortens vertically into a 

 zig-zag, and horizontally into a lemniscate. Projecting this 

 curve in space, the points where chlorine, bromine and iodine are 

 formed come close under each other. The same is true of sul- 

 phur, selenium and tellurium, and also of phosphorus, arsenic 

 and antimony. " Let us imagine a cyclical translation in space, 

 each revolution witnessing the genesis of the group of elements 

 previously represented as produced during one complete vibra- 

 tion of the pendulum. Let us suppose that one cycle has thus 

 been completed, the center of the unknown creative force in its 

 mighty journey through space having scattered along its track 

 the primitive atoms, the seeds which presently are to coalesce 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Third Series, Yol. XXXYI, No. 211.— July, 1888. 

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