Discovery of the X-rays
This discovery of the X-rays was followed closely by that of the N-rays, by the two
Curies, husband and wife. This further discovery was a still greater surprise to the
scientific world than the former one; for by its aid was established nothing less than
the inconstancy of matter. Hitherto science, dealing not with knowledge, but with
opinions, had held the belief that the atom is the ultimate form of matter and that no
chemical or physical force can divide it, a teaching held to be incontrovertible.
First, the discovery of the X-rays had markedly disturbed this belief, and then, on
the discovery of the N-rays, it soon became indubitably clear that a constant
destruction is taking place within the atom, an uninterrupted throwing off of
smaller particles.
But it is not our task to show how one discovery after another was made. We are
merely interested in knowing that, because of these discoveries, we find today in
the atom—not in the radium atom alone, but in every atom as such—only a union
of particles identical with one another, the so-called electrons, being but special
forms of electro-magnetic forces.
Professor Gruner writes as follows: "The atom is no longer the accepted, final unit
of matter, but has given place to the electron.
The atom is no longer an individual compact particle of matter, but an aggregate of
thousands of tiny bodies.
Furthermore, the atom is not indestructible; it can throw off successive electrons or
groups of electrons from its numerous contents and so keep up a gradual, but
veritable destruction."
Professor Thomson, who won the "Nobel" prize for his work on natural science,
makes these distinct assertions:
"(1) The electron is nothing more than a form of electricity.
(2) Each electron weighs 1/770th of a fluid atom. Of an atom, that is,
which, hitherto had been regarded as the smallest individual particle.
(3) A fluid atom consists of 770 electrons and is formed of electricity
without any other material.
(4) The atoms of other elements, besides radium, are also composed of
electrons and of nothing else.
The number of electrons varies in different elements; for instance, an
atom of quicksilver is composed of 150,000 electrons.
(5) Electricity is the basis of all being."
Hitherto we have been taught to consider our bodies and their organs from no other
standpoint than that of their elements. For if we attribute all the life of the body to
the cells, these must consist only of primary matter, like the atoms of which they
are formed.
But we have now come to know that atoms, and, therefore, our bodies
as well, are formed of electrons, or we might say, of crystalized electricity,
consequently, we are compelled to recognize in the body a human machine
operated entirely under the direction of electrical forces. For electrons cannot lose
their electrical character, merely because they are grouped together in atoms and
form our bodies.
It is a well known scientific fact that atoms attract and repel each other, just as is
the case with electro-magnetic forces.
Our bodies, then, are not only formed of electrons, which unite into atoms, but they
are absolutely filled with free electrons; for every atom is surrounded with an
envelope of free electrons, or, in other words, is the centre of a molecule of
electrons, and carries its envelope of electrons precisely as the earth carries its
envelope of air.
Thomson asserts on the basis of his latest observations that:
"Every atom forms a planetary system.
The 150,000 electrons of mercury, for instance, are arranged in four
concentric spheres, like a system about the sun."
When we arrive at a complete understanding of these facts and their bearing upon
life, we shall be able to control our bodies with perfect success by regulating their
electric forces and adjusting their energies.
As yet the main difficulty which obstructs our comprehension comes from the
seeming dissimilarity of things within and things without man's "passing strange,
complex mortality." This apparent lack of co-ordination presumedly stands in
direct contradiction to the similarity of electrons.
But however similar electrons may be, they still have different vibrations, which
cause the differences between various objects,—between colors, shapes and
sounds, between positive and negative conditions.
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