Fournier d'Albe, "The Electron Theory"
(2nd. ed., 1907).
Such are the discoveries of the last fifteen years and a few of
the mathematical deductions from them. We are not yet in a
position to say positively that the atoms are composed of
electrons, but it is clear that the experts are properly modest
in claiming only that this is highly probable. The atom seems to
be a little universe in which, in combination with positive
electricity (the nature of which is still extremely obscure),
from 1700 to 300,000 electrons revolve at a speed that reaches as
high as 100,000 miles a second. Instead of being crowded
together, however, in their minute system, each of them has, in
proportion to its size, as ample a space to move in as a single
speck of dust would have in a moderate-sized room (Thomson). This
theory not only meets all the facts that have been discovered in
an industrious decade of research, not only offers a splendid
prospect of introducing unity into the eighty-one different
elements of the chemist, but it opens out a still larger prospect
of bringing a common measure into the diverse forces of the
universe.
Light is already generally recognised as a rapid series of
electro-magnetic waves or pulses in ether.
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