328 
The Philippine Journal of Science 
1921 
concludes that electrons in atoms are rings about 4 X 10' 10 
centimeters in diameter. 
Although the conception of a ring electron obviously extends 
somewhat the applicability of the known electromagnetic laws 
to forces within atoms and molecules, no one has ever proposed 
a quantitative explanation of the characteristic behavior of an 
accelerated electron on this basis. 
THE CHEMICAL PROBLEM OF TO-DAY 
The ultimate and fundamental problem of chemistry is to 
express in some intelligible and quantitative manner the in- 
teraction of atoms at short distances. Since modern physical 
research tells us that atomic forces are only the aggregate of 
electronic forces, it seems that the problem may be simplified, 
and we need only find the manner in which electrons and 
positive electric units act at short distances, including the 
interaction of like and unlike units. 
The laws of action of like and unlike charges at relatively long 
distances were the subject of much investigational work in the 
nineteenth century, and were shown by Maxwell 11 and others 
to be expressible in a few simple equations now known as the 
classical electromagnetic theory. This theory has been thor- 
oughly verified for all distances between those of molecular 
dimensions and very large ones; but it is not a complete ex- 
pression of the observed facts concerning electricity. To explain 
experimental evidence not provided for by the classical theory 
we have two alternatives : 
1. To consider that the classical theory is valid even for 
infinitesimal distances but that there is some additional influence 
quite external to the facts covered by this theory. 
2. To discard the classical theory and invent new laws which 
will explain the experimental evidence. 
In the problem of atomic forces the most obvious fact not 
explained by the classical theory is the existence of the electron. 
The theory says that negative charge, unless bound or confined 
in some way, has a powerful expansive action due to the 
repulsion of every infinitesimal part of it for every other part. 
The fact is that we find finite particles of negative charge 
which show no tendency to expand. Adopting method 1 we 
11 Maxwell, J. C., Electricity and Magnetism, ed. 3. Oxford, Clarendon 
Press (1904) ; cf. also Hertz, H., Electric Waves. London, Macmillan and 
Co. (1900). 
