24 
Transactions Texas Academy of Science.' — 1907. 
theory, has been taken from “Modern Theory of Physical Phenomena,” 
by A. Riggi, translated by A. Trowbridge, 1904. The atomic consti- 
tution of electricity is a concept of the electron theory. “Every mole- 
cule of an electrolyte may break up into two ions, that is, into two 
atoms or groups of atoms having equal charges of opposite sign” ; thus 
when sodium chloride is dissolved in water many of its molecules be- 
come dissociated, that is, they become separated into ions — a positive 
ion of sodium and a negative ion of chlorine. And “when the elec- 
trodes connected with the poles of a battery are immersed in the salt 
solution, the ions, obeying the law of electric force, are set in motion 
and pass to their respective electrodes where they give up their charges 
and become neutral atoms.” “When the ions arrive on the electrodes 
and become neutral atoms, the electrons enter into the circuit and con- 
stitute the current.” 
Electrolytic dissociation, that is, a separation of electrons from atoms 
by the expenditure of energy, which varies according to its chemical 
nature, seems to be limited N to the separation of negative electrons from 
neutral atoms; and “since the structure of material atoms is such as 
to permit the negative electrons, which form a part of them, to vibrate 
freely while the positive part remains fixed, the neutral atom • is con- 
ceived to consist of one portion which has a positive charge, and of 
one or more negative electrons which vibrate around it, like the satellites 
about a planet, held in their orbits by electric force.” 
“The undulatory theory of light demands the existence of a medium 
capable of propagating its waves; a substance distributed everywhere 
throughout interstellar and interplanetary space, and throughout inter- 
atomic space as well.” It has recently been determined that light waves 
can be considered as electro-magnetic waves, which differ from the 
Hertzian waves only in numerical values. “But to complete the electro- 
magnetic theory of light, so that it may serve to explain certain phe- 
nomena which result from the action of ponderable matter on the 
ether, Lofentz had the fortunate idea to consider the electro charges 
of atoms with the atoms themselves.” “If merely the positive charges 
take part in light vibrations, and magnetic forces generated by their 
motions are taken into account, one arrives at an electro-magnetic 
theory of light capable of explaining those phenomena which eluded 
the theory based simply on. the formula of Maxwell or of Hertz.” 
The separation of molecules into ions seems to be a prerequisite to 
the electron theory, and as this phenomena is limited almost exclusively 
to electrolytes, the explanation of ferment action does not logically fall 
within the scope of the electron theory sinde neither ferments nor their 
substrates are electrolytes. But be this as it may, the only grounds 
for conflict between the electron theory and the biophysical theory, 
