1921-22.] The Magnetic Character of the Quantum. 
213 
XIII. — The Magnetic Character of the Quantum.* 
By H. Stanley Allen, M.A., D.Sc. 
(MS. received May 8, 1922. Read May 8, 1922.) 
§ 1. Calamoids — the four-dimensional tubes of electromagnetic force 
introduced by Professor Whittaker in a communication f in November 
1921 — are not referred to in his work “ On the Quantum Mechanism in the 
Atom” (see pp. 129-142), in wliich he is content to deal with three dimen- 
sions ; but there is at least one point of contact between the two papers. 
The four-dimensional tubes include as particular cases both kinds of Faraday 
tubes (electric and magnetic), and magnetic forces are treated as on an 
equality with electric forces. In seeking for a mechanism to elucidate 
the quantum, a magnetic model is employed; and although Professor 
Whittaker is careful not to insist on the magnetic structure suggested, 
careful examination of his paper shows that some form of magnetic 
element is required both for the absorption of energy by the atom from 
the electron and for the transformation of the absorbed energy into the 
radiant form. As I have been for some time a supporter of the view 
which relates the quantum to a magnetic element, it is gratifying to me 
to find here such powerful support. In the paper | which I read before 
the Society in November 1920, I advanced the opinion that the quantum 
theory involves the existence of discrete tubes of magnetic induction. 
Applying the same ideas to the calamoids of Professor Whittaker, we are 
led to the view that the world of events is not a continuum, but is built 
up of individual tubes of force of this more complicated description. 
§ 2. At present, however, we are concerned only with three dimensions, 
and, more particularly, with the mechanism within the atom which may 
he regarded as the origin of the quantum magnetic tubes. Such a 
structure may be called a magneton, using that term in its widest sense. 
The word seems to have been employed first by Dr L. A. Bauer § in a 
paper read at a meeting of the Philosophical Society of Washington on 
May 7, 1910. “The corpuscles in magnetism might be atomic systems 
* The substance of the present communication formed a contribution to the discussion 
on quantum theory and atomic structure following the reading of Professor Whittaker’s 
paper “ On the Quantum Mechanism in the Atom ” on May 8, 1922, pp. 129-142. 
t Proc. Roy. Soc. Eclin., vol. xlii, p. 1, 1921. 
I Ibid., vol. xli, p. 34, 1921. 
§ See Nature, vol. c, p. 227, 1917, for the history of the word “magneton.” 
