THE ELECTRIC AHD LUMINIFEROUS MEDIUM. 
771 
the same order of intensity as the electrical forces (elastic stress) ; but then they are 
of much smaller raege of action as their intensity depends on the inverse fourth 
power of the distance, so that the woi-k done by them during the formation of the 
molecule will probably be very small compared with the work done by the electric 
forces. 
[70. (Added June 14.) The charged atoms will tend to aggregate into molecules, 
and when this combination is thoroughly complete, the rotational strain of each 
molecule will be self-contained, in the sense that the lines of twist proceeding from 
one atom will end on some other atom of the same molecule. If this is not the case, 
the chemical combination will be incomplete, and there will still be unsatished bonds 
of electrical attraction between the diflerent molecules. A molecule of the complete 
and stable type will thus be electrically neutral; and if any cause pulls it asunder 
into two ions, these ions will possess equal and opposite electric charges. 
In the theory as hitherto considered, electric discharge has been represented as 
produced by disruption of the elastic quality of aether along the path of the discharge ; 
and this is perhaps the most unnatural feature of the present scheme. If, however, 
we examine the point, it will be seen that the phenomena of electric How need involve 
only convection of the atomic charges without any discharge across the aether, with 
the single exception of electrolysis. An attempt may be made (as in ‘ Proceedings,’ 
p. 454) to account for the uniformity of the atomic charges thus gained or lost, from 
the point of view of the establishment of a path of disruptive discharge from one 
atom to another. But it seems preferable to adopt a more fundamental view. 
The most remarkable fiict about the distribution of matter throughout the universe 
is that, though it is aggregated in sensible amounts only in excessiv(dy widely 
separated spots, yet wherever it occurs, it is most probably always made up of the 
same limited number of elements. It would seem that we are almost driven to 
explain this by supposing the atoms of all the chemical elements to be built up of 
combinations of a single type of primordial atom, which itself may represent or be 
evolved from some homogeneous structural property of the gether."^" It is, again, 
difficult to imagine how the chemical elements should be invariably connected, 
through all their combinations, with the same constant of gravitation, unless they 
have somehow a common underlying origin, and are not merely independent self- 
subsisting systems. We may assume that it is these ultimate atoms, or let us say 
monads, that form the simple singular points in the aether ; and the chemical atoms 
will be points of higher singularity formed by combinations of them. These monads 
must be taken to be all quantitatively alike, except that some have positive and 
others negative electrifications, the one set being, in their dynamical features, simply 
perversions or optical images of the other set. On such a view, electric transfer 
from ion to ion would arise from intercliange of momids by convection without any 
bieaking down of the continuity of the aether. 
* Cf. Thomas Graham’s “ Chemical and Physical Researches,” Introclnction, and p. 299, 
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