J. J. THOMSON’S THEORY OF MATTER. 
BY L. BEQEMAN. 
J. J. Thomson’s theory of matter is largely the out- 
growth of his own experimental researches in the nature 
and structure of electricity. In reading the records of his 
work it is often hard to discriminate in just what sense he 
uses the term “electricity.” It is certainly not well de- 
fined whether the term stands for primordial energy or 
matter. 
In only one instance does he speak with any definiteness 
on the point. He says, “that one view of the constitution 
of matter is that the atoms of the various elements are col- 
lections of positive and negative charges held together 
mainly by their electric attractions.” Continuing at an- 
other point, he says: “All mass is mass of the ether, all 
momentum, momentum of the ether,and all kinetic energy, 
kinetic energy of the ether.” 
These statements would lead us to think that to him 
the term “electricity” and ^ ‘ether” are at least synony- 
mous. If there is any difference, it may be stated by say- 
ing that electricity is ether under a corpuscular stress. 
The term “corpuscular” here will explain itself later. 
Electricity, we are told, has an atomic structure. The 
term “atomic” is used here in a general sense signifying 
merely that electricity is an aggregation of individual units 
of ether called corpuscles. As evidence of this divisibility 
of the electric charge, he first turns to the phenomenon of 
electrolysis. We know that when electricity is transmit- 
ted through a solution, the amount of the positive and neg- 
ative charges is directly proportional to the number of ions 
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