-8 C. E. FAWSITT. 



Not only then is the atomic structure discontinuous but 

 the motion of the radiation-emitting electrons is discon- 

 tinuous. 



The Creation of Atoms. 



Again it may be asked how the atoms have come into 

 being. While the atom of any element is an exceedingly 

 complicated structure, and while this structure is only 

 being unfolded with great difficulty, this much is certain, 

 that the atoms of one and the same element are essentially 

 similar in all properties which go to make up the chemical 

 behaviour of the element; it is also supposed that the atoms 

 and chemical properties of any element in the sun are 

 similar to what we have on the earth's surface. 



Now all our experience would teach us to believe that 

 in evolution we have also variation, and that one of the 

 factors in evolution (particularly in influencing variation) 

 is the environment. The environment in the sun is very 

 different from that of the earth, and yet the atom of any 

 element in the sun appears to be the same or very nearly 

 the same in regard to spectroscopic examination (a very 

 searching test) as the atom of that element on the earth. 



Certain characteristics of Atoms independent of Ordinary 

 Environment. 

 The mass and the radioactivity of an atom are also 

 independent of environment, at any rate independent of 

 any change in the environment that we can create for 

 them. Clerk Maxwell in 1873, said that the atom could 

 not be self existent, and had the essential character of a 

 manufactured article, and that it had not been made by 

 any of the processes we call natural. Evolution in 1873 

 was not considered as a possibility in the domain of the 

 atomic kingdom. 



Evolution among the elements. 

 Now although there has not been an evolution in atoms 

 comparable with evolution as understood in the Darwinian 



