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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Autobiography of an Electron, by Charles R.
+(Charles Robert) Gibson
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Autobiography of an Electron
+       Wherein the Scientific Ideas of the Present Time Are Explained in an Interesting and Novel Fashion
+
+
+Author: Charles R. (Charles Robert) Gibson
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 17, 2011  [eBook #36456]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ELECTRON***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Sharon Joiner, Erica Pfister-Altschul, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images
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+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
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+
+
+
+THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ELECTRON
+
+
+[Illustration: A WELL-KNOWN PHENOMENON PRODUCED BY ELECTRONS
+
+_Photo_
+
+_The Fleet Agency_
+
+A sudden discharge of electrons from cloud to cloud, or from cloud to
+the earth, constitutes what we call "lightning."]
+
+
+THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ELECTRON.
+
+Wherein the Scientific Ideas of the Present
+Time Are Explained in an Interesting
+and Novel Fashion
+
+by
+
+CHARLES R. GIBSON, F.R.S.E.
+
+Author of "Scientific Ideas of To-Day," "Electricity of To-Day"
+"The Romance of Modern Electricity," _&c. &c._
+
+Illustrated
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Philadelphia
+J. B. Lippincott Company
+London: Seeley & Co. Limited
+1911
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+Although text-books of science may appear to the general reader to be
+"very dry" material, there is no doubt that, when scientific facts and
+theories are put into everyday language, the general reader is genuinely
+interested. The reception accorded to the present author's _Scientific
+Ideas of To-day_ bears out this fact. While that volume explains, in
+non-technical language, the latest scientific theories, it aims at
+giving a fairly full account, which, of course, necessitates going into
+a great deal of detail. That the book has been appreciated by very
+varied classes of readers is evident from the large numbers of
+appreciative letters received from different quarters. But the author
+believes that if the story of modern science were told in a still more
+popular style, it would serve a further useful purpose. For there are
+readers who do not care to go into details, and yet would like to take
+an intelligent interest in the scientific progress of the present day.
+Some of those readers do not wish to trouble about names and dates,
+while the mere mention of rates of vibration and such-like is a worry to
+them. They wish a book which they may read with the same ease as an
+interesting novel. Hence the form of the present volume.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The author is indebted to Professor James Muir, M.A., D.Sc., of the
+Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, and to H. Stanley Allen,
+M.A., D.Sc., Senior Lecturer in Physics at King's College, University of
+London, for very kindly reading the proof-sheets. The author is indebted
+further to Professor Muir in connection with some of the illustrations,
+and for others to Dixon and Corbitt and R. S. Newall, Ltd., Glasgow;
+Siemens Schuckert Werke, Berlin.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT
+
+The Scribe introduces the Electron to the reader. He has something
+    to say also about the mysterious aether which pervades all
+    space. He emphasises the fact that the electron is a real
+    existing thing                                                    21
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ELECTRON'S PREFACE
+
+The Electron explains the reason why it has written its
+    autobiography                                                     29
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEW ARRIVAL
+
+The Electron points out who the new arrival is really. It relates
+    an amusing experience. It tells how man disturbed electrons
+    before he discovered their existence. An ancient experiment,
+    and what the wise men of the East thought about it. How
+    electrons are responsible for the electrification of any
+    object. Handled by a new experimenter, they surprise man. Man
+    becomes of special interest to the electrons                      32
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SOME GOOD SPORT
+
+The Electron explains how man succeeded in crowding them together,
+    with some rather exciting results from the overcrowding. One
+    historical incident. Man's fear of the consequences. How a
+    party of electrons wrecked a church steeple. An unfortunate
+    accident                                                          42
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS
+
+The Electron's story begins at a very far distant period, before
+    this world had taken shape. The Electron was present when the
+    atoms of matter were being formed. The birth of the moon.
+    Something still to be discovered. The moulding of the planet.
+    Boiling oceans. The electrons took an active part in making
+    sea-water salt. The Electron explains why it has been chosen to
+    write the story of itself and its fellows                         52
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MAN PAYS US SOME ATTENTION
+
+The electrons are encouraged by one of the experiments made by man.
+    They hope it may lead to their discovery, so that their
+    services may be recognised. The Electron's experience in a
+    vacuum tube. A disappointment and a revival of hope. A great
+    declaration by one individual man. The Electron misjudges man.
+    Mention of a great discovery. The christening of the electrons    60
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A STEADY MARCH
+
+The Electron explains how they produce the electric current. How
+    man discovered means of making the electrons march. A simple
+    explanation of how a complete electric circuit is always
+    necessary. How an "earth circuit" works. How the marching
+    electrons can do work                                             68
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A USEFUL DANCE
+
+A perpetual dance. A responsible position. How the safety of the
+    mariner depends upon the electrons' dance. How electrons
+    produce a magnet. A convenient kind of magnet, which gains and
+    loses its attractive power when desired. How a permanent magnet
+    is made. The great service of electrons in modern life            76
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HOW WE CARRY MAN'S NEWS
+
+The method of sending the news. The Electron's personal experience.
+    A series of forced marches. How man controls the electrons. How
+    the electrons reproduce the signals                               86
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW WE COMMUNICATE WITH DISTANT SHIPS
+
+An entirely different means of communication. A surprise to man,
+    but not to the electrons. How the electrons produce waves in
+    the surrounding aether. How these waves disturb distant
+    electrons. The Electron's personal experience. Its description
+    of its actions in a wireless telegraph station                    94
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HOW WE REPRODUCE SPEECH
+
+Why it is not correct to speak of the electrons as carriers of
+    speech. The action of electrons in the working of telephones.
+    The Electron's own experience in wireless telephony              106
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OUR HEAVIEST DUTIES
+
+A roving commission. How electrons can move gigantic cars and
+    trains. The action of electrons in dynamos and motors. How the
+    electrons transmit the energy. What makes the motor go           116
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A BOON TO MAN
+
+A simple explanation of how the electrons produce light. How the
+    Electron provides a connecting link between matter and the
+    aether. How light reaches the earth from the sun. How the
+    electrons produce that beautiful luminous effect which man
+    calls an "Aurora." How the earth has become a negatively
+    charged body. How electrons produce radiant heat. The
+    difference between light and heat                                126
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW WE PRODUCE COLOUR
+
+What colour is really. How the different colour sensations are
+    stimulated by the electrons. The Electron as a faithful
+    satellite to the atom. How electrons can produce the different
+    aether waves. How the electrons respond to the different waves.
+    The production of artificial light. Co-operation of the
+    electrons. Man's ridiculously wasteful processes. The
+    electrons' secret                                                136
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WE SEND MESSAGES FROM THE STARS
+
+The kind of messages referred to. How the electrons have informed
+    man of what the stars are made. How man reads the electrons'
+    wireless messages. How it is other electrons that enable man to
+    read the messages. The real explanation of reflection of light.
+    How light is absorbed by some objects. How some substances are
+    transparent. Why objects appear coloured. What makes the lines
+    in the spectra of stars. The spectroscope                        144
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOW MAN PROVED OUR EXISTENCE
+
+How man reasoned out a plan for detecting the electron. How the
+    electrons altered some lines in the spectrum. The curious
+    manner in which the Electron informed man that certain stars
+    are approaching this planet, while others are receding from it   158
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MY X-RAY EXPERIENCE
+
+X-rays are an old story to some electrons. The Electron's personal
+    experience. A very sudden stop. How electrons made a
+    fluorescent screen send out light. The electrons assist the
+    surgeon. A curious find. Detecting imitation diamonds. The
+    Electron and the mummy                                           166
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE ATOMS
+
+How the atoms of matter attract one another. What constitutes the
+    temperature of a body. What the atoms are made of. An important
+    thing still to discover about the atom. The elements. How the
+    electrons produce compound substances. The real explanation of
+    chemical changes                                                 178
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+HOW WE MADE THE WORLD TALK
+
+It was nothing new on the part of the electrons. Exaggerated
+    rumours. The electrons and radium. Fast-flying electrons.
+    Atomic explosions                                                186
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+The Electron is made to sum up a few of the wonders which it has
+    related, in order to emphasise the great services which
+    electrons render to man                                          194
+
+APPENDIX                                                             200
+
+INDEX                                                                211
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                                                    PAGE
+
+A WELL-KNOWN PHENOMENON PRODUCED BY ELECTRONS             _Frontispiece_
+
+DAMAGE DONE BY A PARTY OF ELECTRONS                                   45
+
+A TOBACCO TIN DEFYING GRAVITATION                                     79
+
+A MOTOR-CAR WITH WIRELESS TELEGRAPH                                   99
+
+A TRAIN IMPELLED BY MOVING ELECTRONS                                 119
+
+PROTECTION AGAINST A DISCHARGE OF ELECTRONS                          129
+
+THE SPECTROSCOPE AND THE ELECTRONS' WIRELESS MESSAGES                149
+
+HOW ELECTRONS PRODUCE X-RAY IMAGES                                   171
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+WHAT THE STORY IS ABOUT
+
+
+The reason for writing this story is given in the Preface, but the title
+is so strange that the reader will wish naturally to know what the story
+is about. What is an electron? Is it an imaginary thing, or is it a
+reality?
+
+One of the reasons for writing this story in its present form is to help
+the reader to realise that electrons are not mythical, but real existing
+things, and by far the most interesting things we know anything about.
+The discovery of electrons has shed a new light upon the meaning of very
+many things which have been puzzles until now. They give us a reasonable
+explanation of the cause of light and colour. They provide a new idea of
+the constitution of matter. They enable us to picture an electric
+current, and they give us definite, though by no means final, answers
+to the why and wherefore of magnetism, chemical union, and
+radio-activity.
+
+The story is imaginary only in so far that one of the electrons itself
+is supposed to tell the tale. But in the endeavour to make the story
+interesting, there has been no sacrifice of accuracy in the statements
+of fact.
+
+While all names and dates, and many other details, have been kept out
+rigidly from the story, a note of the more important of these has been
+added in an Appendix for the sake of those readers who may wish to refer
+to them.
+
+It will be well to introduce the electron to the reader before leaving
+it to speak for itself. We have definite experimental proof of the
+existence of electrons, and yet it is very difficult to realise their
+existence, for two reasons. In the first place, they are so
+infinitesimally small. We count a microbe a small thing; we can see it
+only with the aid of a very powerful microscope. Yet that little speck
+of matter contains myriads of particles or _atoms_. An atom of matter is
+therefore an inconceivably little thing, but even that is a great giant
+compared to an electron. Our second difficulty in realising the
+existence of an electron is that it is not any form of what we call
+_matter_; it is a particle of _electricity_, whatever that may be.
+
+From the earliest experiments it became evident that there were two
+distinct kinds of electricity. These were described by the pioneer
+workers as _positive_ and _negative_ electricities. To-day we have
+definite experimental proof that negative electricity is composed of
+separate particles or units. Just as matter is composed of invisible
+atoms, so also is negative electricity of an atomic nature. These
+particles of negative electricity have been christened electrons,
+_electron_ being the Greek word for _amber_, from which man first
+obtained electricity. Of course no one can ever hope to see an electron,
+but physicists have been able to determine its size and _mass_, its
+electric charge, and the speeds at which it moves.
+
+While it has been known for more than a century that _light_ is merely
+waves in the all-pervading aether of space, set up by incandescent
+bodies, it has been a puzzle always how matter could cause waves in the
+aether, as it offers no resistance to the movement of matter through it.
+Here we are on the back of a great planet, flying through space at the
+enormous rate of one thousand miles per minute, and yet our flimsy
+atmospheric blanket is in no way disturbed by the aether through which we
+are flying. In the following story we shall see that these electrons
+help us towards a solution of this and many other problems; they provide
+the missing link between matter and the aether.
+
+But what is this _aether_ of which one hears so much in these days? The
+truth is we know nothing of its nature. We cannot say whether it is
+lighter than the lightest gas or denser than the densest solid. The
+aether, whatever it may be, is as real as the air we breathe. It is the
+medium which brings us light and heat from the sun, and which carries
+our wireless telegraph and telephone messages. The whole universe is
+moving in this great aether ocean.
+
+In order to make the electron's story perfectly intelligible to every
+reader, I have added a short explanatory note at the beginning of each
+chapter. These notes merely state the facts about which the electron is
+speaking.
+
+To make the electron's story as realistic as possible, it has been
+necessary to give the imaginary electron perfect freedom of knowledge
+concerning itself and its surroundings. In our schooldays we had to
+write the autobiographies of steel pens, and such-like, but these
+inanimate things had to be endowed with powers of thought, feeling, and
+desire. It is very important, however, to remember that an electron is a
+particle of negative electricity--_a real existing thing_.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE ELECTRON'S PREFACE
+
+
+While many scientific men now understand our place in the universe, we
+electrons are anxious that every person should know the very important
+part which we play in the workaday world. It was for this reason that my
+fellow-electrons urged me to write my own biography. My difficulty has
+been to find a scribe who would put down my story in the way I desired.
+The first man with whom I opened negotiations wished me to give him
+dates and names of which I knew nothing. And he asked such stupid
+questions about where I was born and who my parents were, as if I were
+flesh and blood.
+
+I am pleased to say that my relationship with the scribe who has put
+down my story in the following pages has been of the most friendly
+description. Apart from a little tiff which we had at the outset, there
+has been no difference of opinion. He complained that I related things
+in too abstract a form. However, we got over the difficulty by a
+compromise; I have allowed him to place what he calls "The Scribe's
+Note" at the beginning of each chapter, but it will be understood
+clearly that these are merely convenient embellishments, and that I am
+responsible for the story of my own experiences.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEW ARRIVAL
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER THREE_
+
+    It will be well to keep clearly in mind that an electron is a
+    real particle of negative electricity.
+
+    Electrons have been discovered only within recent years.
+
+    No matter from what substances we take them, they are always
+    identical in every respect.
+
+    Some electrons are attached to the atoms of matter in such a way
+    that they may be removed easily from one object to another.
+
+    When a surplus of these detachable electrons is crowded on to
+    any object, we say that it is charged with negative electricity.
+
+    We speak of the other object, which has lost these same
+    electrons, as being charged with positive electricity.
+
+    In this chapter the electron refers to the old-world experiment
+    in which a piece of amber when rubbed attracts any light object
+    to it.
+
+    For many ages man believed this to be a special property
+    belonging to amber alone.
+
+    One of Queen Elizabeth's physicians discovered that this
+    property was common to all substances.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEW ARRIVAL
+
+
+It is most amusing to me and my fellow-electrons to hear intelligent
+people speak of us as though we were new arrivals on this planet. Dear
+me! We were here for countless ages before man put in an appearance. I
+wonder if any man can realise that we have been on the move ever since
+the foundations of this world were laid. It is man himself who is the
+new arrival.
+
+It does seem strange to us that men should be so distinctly different
+from one another. We electrons are at a decided disadvantage, for we are
+all identical in every respect. I have no individual name--it would
+serve no purpose. Even if you could see me, you could not distinguish me
+from any other electron. I wonder sometimes if men appreciate the great
+advantage they have in possessing individual names. I was impressed
+with this thought one fine summer morning. While I was riding on the
+back of a particle of gas in the atmosphere, I was carried through the
+open window of a nursery just as the under-nurse was putting the room in
+order. A little later there was some commotion in the nursery, for the
+young mother and her mother had come to see the twin daughters being
+bathed by the nurses. The grandmother happened to remark how very much
+alike the two little infants were. She said laughingly to the head nurse
+that she must be careful not to get the children mixed. But the big
+brother, aged five years, remarked that it would not matter really how
+much they were mixed until they got their names. Sometimes I wish we
+electrons did differ from one another, so that we might each possess an
+individual name, but no doubt it is necessary for us all to be exactly
+alike.
+
+Long before man had discovered us, he caused us deliberately to do
+certain things. He was mystified by the results of his experiments, for
+he was not aware of our presence. A few of my fellow-electrons have
+rather hazy recollections of being disturbed while clinging to a piece
+of amber. They had been disturbed often before in a similar way, by
+being rubbed against a piece of woollen cloth, and the result had been
+always that a number of electrons let go their hold upon the cloth and
+crowded on to the amber. The overcrowding was uncomfortable, but it
+happened usually that the surplus electrons found some means of escape
+to the earth, where there is no need of excessive crowding.
+
+On the occasion to which I refer, it so happened that the rubbing had
+been unusually vigorous and prolonged, so that the electrons were
+crowded on to the amber in great numbers. In their endeavour to escape
+they produced a strain or stress in the surrounding aether, and this
+caused a small piece of straw, which was lying within the disturbed
+area, to be forced towards the amber.
+
+What attracted the attention of the electrons was that the man who was
+holding the piece of amber removed the clinging straw and replaced it
+exactly where it had been lying. In the meantime he had been handling
+the amber, and many of the crowded electrons had managed to make a bolt
+for the earth by way of the man's body. They did this so very quietly
+that the man did not feel any sensation. However, as soon as the amber
+was rubbed again, a similar crowd provided the same attractive property.
+We electrons became impatient to hear what man would say of our work,
+for it was apparent that he had noticed the movements of the straw. You
+will hardly believe me when I tell you to what decision these wise men
+of the East came. They declared that, in rubbing the amber, it had
+received heat and life. As if life could be originated in any such
+simple manner!
+
+You can picture our disappointment when we found that man was going to
+ignore our presence. Occasionally we were given opportunities of
+displaying our abilities in drawing light objects towards pieces of
+rubbed amber. But the funny thing was that man got hold of the stupid
+idea that this attractive property belonged to the amber instead of to
+us. If he had only tried pieces of sulphur, resin, or glass, he would
+have found that these substances would have acted just as well. You see
+it was not really the substance, but we electrons who were the active
+agents.
+
+We had given up all hope of being discovered, when news came along that
+a learned man was on the hunt for us. He was crowding us on to all sorts
+of substances. He rubbed a piece of glass with some silk, and at first
+he was surprised greatly to see light objects jump towards the excited
+glass. Of course, we were not surprised in the very least. The only
+thing that amused us was to find that he was making out a list of the
+different substances which showed attractive properties when rubbed. He
+could not, evidently, get away from the idea that it was the substances
+themselves that became attractive.
+
+We were sorry that the poor experimenter wasted so much time and energy
+in trying to crowd us on to a piece of metal rod. He rubbed and he
+rubbed that metal, but it would attract nothing, and I shall tell you
+the reason. You know that we electrons hate overcrowding; indeed we
+always separate from one another as far as possible when there is no
+force pulling us together. We only crowded on to the amber because we
+could not help ourselves; we had no way of escape, for amber is a
+substance we cannot pass through. But we have no difficulty whatever in
+making our way along a piece of metal, and as soon as the rubbing
+began, some electrons moved off the metal by way of the man's arm and
+body to make room for those being crowded on to the metal from the
+rubber. And so there never was any overcrowding, and consequently no
+straining of the aether. But it was not long before we found that man had
+succeeded in cutting off our way of escape. He had attached a glass
+handle to the metal rod, and we were compelled to overcrowd upon the
+metal as we could not pass through the glass handle. Neighbouring light
+objects were attracted by the excited or "electrified" metal. Even this
+demonstration did not put man upon our track.
+
+Perhaps I should explain in passing, that when a glass rod is rubbed
+with a silk handkerchief we crowd on to the silk, and not on to the
+glass. This leaves the glass rod short of electrons, and the aether is
+strained so that light objects are attracted. Man did notice that there
+was some difference between a piece of amber and a piece of glass when
+these were excited. What the difference was he could not imagine, but to
+distinguish the two different conditions he said that the amber was
+charged with _negative_ electricity and the glass with _positive_
+electricity.
+
+From that time forward man became of special interest to us. We felt
+sure that sooner or later he was bound to recognise that we were at work
+behind the scenes. It seemed to us, however, that man was desperately
+slow in turning his attention towards us, and we tried to waken him up
+in a rather alarming fashion, as I shall relate in the succeeding
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SOME GOOD SPORT
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER FOUR_
+
+    Men began to make glass plate machines for producing
+    electrification on a larger scale.
+
+    The electric spark is produced.
+
+    The electron tells the story of the first attempt to store
+    electricity in a glass jar.
+
+    This is what we do now by means of a Leyden jar.
+
+    A sudden expulsion of electrons from one object to another is
+    called a discharge of electricity.
+
+    Lightning is a discharge of electrons from a cloud to the earth
+    or from cloud to cloud.
+
+    In repeating Franklin's experiment of drawing electricity from
+    thunder-clouds, a Russian professor received a fatal shock.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SOME GOOD SPORT
+
+
+Now I must tell you of a surprise in which I took an active part. Some
+man thought he would separate a great crowd of us from our friends. Of
+course, he did not think really of _us_, but whatever he may have
+supposed he was doing, he succeeded in accumulating greater crowds of us
+together than he had done previously. He managed this by making simple
+machines to do the rubbing for him on a larger scale. The result was
+really too much for us; we were kept crowding on to a sort of brass comb
+arrangement from which we could not escape, as the metal was attached to
+a glass support. Talk about overcrowding! I had never experienced the
+like before, and I felt sure some catastrophe would happen. Suddenly
+there was a stampede, during which a great crowd of electrons forced
+their way across to a neighbouring object and thence to the earth. I
+can assure you it was no joke getting through the air. We all tried to
+leap together, but some of the crowd were forced back upon us; then bang
+forward we went again, back once more, and so on till we settled down to
+our normal condition. Of course all this surging to and fro occupied far
+less time than it takes to tell. Indeed, I could not tell you what a
+very small fraction of a second it took.
+
+I wish you had seen the experimenter's surprise as we made this jump. We
+caused such a bombardment in the air that there was a bright spark
+accompanied by a regular explosion. Some men ran away with the idea that
+electricity was a mysterious fire, which only showed itself when it
+mixed with the atmosphere. Nothing delighted us more, after our own
+surprise was over, than to have a chance of repeating these explosions,
+to the alarm of the experimenters. But the best sport of all was to
+come, and when I heard of it I was so disappointed that I had not been
+one of the sporting party. It came about in the following way.
+
+[Illustration: DAMAGE DONE BY A PARTY OF ELECTRONS
+
+_By permission of Dixon and Corbitt and R. S. Newall, Ltd._
+
+_Glasgow_
+
+When a myriad of electrons is discharged suddenly from a cloud to the
+earth, it happens sometimes that considerable damage is done. The above
+photograph is of a church steeple damaged by lightning in 1875. No
+lightning-conductor was provided, so the electrons had to get to earth
+by way of the steeple itself, with the disastrous result as shown.]
+
+One learned man thought he had hit upon a good idea. He tried to
+crowd a tremendous number of us into some water contained in a glass
+jar. Without condescending to think of us, he crowded an enormous number
+of electrons from one of his rubbing machines along a piece of chain
+which led them into water. The overcrowding was appalling, for it was
+impossible to escape through the glass vessel. Things had reached a
+terrible state, when the experimenter stopped the machine and put
+forward his hand to lift the chain out of the water. Now was the chance
+of escape, so the whole excited crowd made one wild rush to earth by way
+of the experimenter's body. The rapid surging to and fro of the crowd
+racked the man's muscles. I wish I had been there to see him jump; they
+say it was something grand. You can imagine how the little sinners
+enjoyed the joke; they knew they were safe, as man had no idea of their
+existence at that time.
+
+Another man was foolhardy enough to try a similar experiment, and they
+say that his alarm was even greater; indeed, he swore he would not take
+another shock even for the crown of France. We were all eager to get
+opportunities of alarming man, not that we wished him any harm, but we
+thought he might pay us a little more attention.
+
+I remember one occasion upon which some of us were boasting of what we
+had done in the way of alarming men, whereupon one fellow-electron
+rather belittled our doings. He maintained that he had jumped all the
+way from a cloud to the earth, along with a crowd of other electrons. In
+doing so they had scared the inhabitants of a whole village, for they
+alighted upon the steeple of a church, and in their wild rush they
+played such havoc among the atoms composing the steeple that they did
+considerable outward damage to the great structure.
+
+I may as well confess that we are not free agents in performing these
+gigantic jumps; we are compelled to go with the crowd when things are in
+such a state of stress. We simply cannot hold on to the atoms of matter
+upon which we happen to be located. It is only under very considerable
+pressure that we can perform this class of jump, and I beg to assure you
+that we are perfectly helpless in those cases where we have been dashed
+upon some poor creature with a message of death.
+
+Alas! on one occasion I was one of a party who killed a very learned
+man. It was most distasteful to us; we could not possibly prevent it. He
+had erected a long rod which extended up into the air, and terminated at
+the lower end in his laboratory. Some of us who were in the upper
+atmosphere were forced on to this iron rod, and from past experience we
+quite expected that we should be subjected to a sudden expulsion to
+earth. Indeed we were waiting for the experimenter to provide us with a
+means of escape, when suddenly he brought his head too near to the end
+of the rod, and in a moment we were dashed to earth through his body. We
+learned with deep regret that the poor man had been robbed of his life.
+
+To turn to something of a happier nature, I shall proceed to tell you of
+some of my earliest recollections. Remember I shall be speaking of a
+time long before man existed--even before this great planet was a solid
+ball.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER FIVE_
+
+    This great globe upon which we live was once a glowing mass of
+    flaming gas.
+
+    It is possible that the whole solar system was once one great
+    mass.
+
+    In any case, we have no doubt that the moon is simply the result
+    of a part of our glowing mass having become detached.
+
+    In the hottest stars we find only the lightest atoms of matter,
+    such as hydrogen gas, the atoms of heavier substances being
+    found in stars which have begun to cool down.
+
+    The electrons have been present from the very beginning, and it
+    is they who go to make up the atoms of matter.
+
+    We picture an atom of matter as a miniature solar system of
+    revolving electrons.
+
+    There is doubtless a corresponding amount of positive
+    electricity, but so far we have no evidence of its nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS
+
+
+Before giving an account of the everyday duties which we perform, it may
+interest you to hear something of our early history.
+
+Not only have we been on the move ever since the beginning of this
+world, but some of us have clear recollections of this planet long
+before it was a solid body. The whole world was a great ball of flaming
+gas. I have heard some fellow-electrons say that we were attached to a
+greater mass of incandescent gas before the beginning of this world, but
+I have no personal recollections of it. But one thing I do remember is a
+great upheaval which caused a large mass of gas to become detached from
+our habitation. Without any warning a great myriad of our
+fellow-electrons were carried away on this smaller mass. At first this
+detached mass circled around our greater mass at very close quarters,
+but we soon found that our friends were being carried farther and
+farther away, until they are now circling around this solid planet at a
+comparatively great distance. Man calls this detached mass _the moon_,
+and when I have heard children say in fun that they wish they could
+visit the man in the moon, I have longed to go and see how it fares with
+those fellow-electrons who seem to be separated from us in such a
+permanent manner.
+
+After this exciting event, which I have heard described as "the birth of
+the moon," our great ball of flaming gas began to cool gradually. But
+you will be interested in what happened before the moon's birth. I saw a
+crowd of electrons suddenly congregate together along with _something_
+else which man has not discovered. Never mind the other part, but
+picture a number of electrons forming a little world of their own. There
+they went whirling around in a giddy dance. I saw these little worlds or
+"atoms" being formed all around, and I feel truly thankful now that I
+was not caught in the mad whirl, for these fellow-electrons have been
+kept hard at it ever since, imprisoned within a single atom. I have met
+a very few electrons who have escaped from within an atom, but I shall
+tell you about them later on.
+
+The first thing I noticed was that each of the atoms had practically the
+same number of electrons in it. At that time I thought only in an
+abstract way, but since then I have learned that these were _hydrogen_
+atoms; hydrogen being the lightest substance known to man. Exactly what
+happened next I cannot recollect, but my attention was attracted later
+to larger congregations of electrons forming other little worlds of
+their own. These atoms were, of course, heavier than the hydrogen atoms.
+I saw quite a variety of different systems, of which I thought then in
+an abstract fashion, but which I know now to be atoms of _oxygen_,
+_nitrogen_, _carbon_, _iron_, _copper_, and so on. While man has given
+the atoms these distinguishing names, you will understand that the
+incidents which I am relating took place long before there was any
+appearance of solidity about our planet; these substances were all in a
+gaseous state.
+
+After this, I recollect that there was a great envelope of water-vapour
+condensed around the planet. Some condensed into liquid water upon the
+surface of the globe, while part was suspended in the form of clouds.
+Some of my fellow-electrons acted as _nuclei_ or foundations for the
+formation of the cloud particles. The water which condensed upon the
+earth settled down in the hollows, which had been produced previously by
+the immense pressure of the water-vapour envelope. We can hardly believe
+it is the same world.
+
+You cannot imagine how strange it was to see the great oceans boiling
+and steaming; of course, they were fresh water then. I need hardly tell
+you that they have become salt only because the rivers have brought down
+sodium into them, and when these sodium atoms unite with chlorine atoms
+they form particles of common salt. I know all about this because we
+electrons play a very important part in all such combinations.
+
+One very memorable recollection is that of life originating in the
+oceans. I wish I could let you into the secret of _the origin of life_,
+but, according to the Creator's plan, man must find out for himself.
+Your guesses are all wide of the mark.
+
+By the way, perhaps I should explain why I have been selected to write
+this biography. The first reason is that I am a free or detachable
+electron, and the second point in my favour is that I have had
+exceptional opportunities of seeing about me. I have heard men say that
+lookers-on see most of the game, and as I have witnessed the gradual
+evolution of things, you will understand that I have views of my own. A
+casual observer might think that things had deteriorated, for long ago
+there were immense monsters upon this planet, and these would put all
+modern creatures in the shade as far as size and strength are concerned.
+But one of the most interesting things to me has been to watch the
+evolution of man, and more especially the gradual development of his
+brain. Indeed, sometimes I have wished that I had happened to be an
+electron in the brain of a man; but, on the other hand, my career would
+not have been of the varied kind which it has been.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MAN PAYS US SOME ATTENTION
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER SIX_
+
+    Men found that by exhausting the air from glass globes or tubes
+    it was possible to pass electric discharges through them, and in
+    so doing some very beautiful luminous effects were produced
+    within the vacuum tubes.
+
+    It was when experimenting with one of these tubes that a
+    scientist suggested that radiant particles were being shot
+    across the tube.
+
+    These particles were really electrons, but it was thought at
+    that time that they were atoms of matter.
+
+    Another scientist declared, from certain mathematical
+    calculations, that there existed extremely small particles of
+    something around the atoms of matter, and that it was the motion
+    of these in the aether which produced _light_.
+
+    People were not willing to accept this theory.
+
+    Some time later another scientist was able to prove by
+    experiment that these particles did exist.
+
+    This was done by means of the spectroscope, as will be related
+    by the electron in a later chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MAN PAYS US SOME ATTENTION
+
+
+From the little I have told you already of our experiences, you will see
+that men had been making many experiments in which we electrons took a
+very active part. It was disappointing that even although we had
+surprised man in so many different ways, he had never become suspicious
+of our presence. One day, however, we did begin to hope for recognition.
+I was present, with a great crowd of electrons, imprisoned within a
+glass globe from which the air had been extracted. We were very pleased
+to find that the surrounding space had been cleared of air, for it was
+apparent that the experimenter was going to make us jump across from one
+end of the glass tube to the other.
+
+A crowd of us had collected on the extremity of a wire, or "electrode,"
+at the one end of the tube, while another similar crowd was present on
+the other electrode at the opposite end of the tube. While I speak of a
+crowd, meaning that there were millions of us, I do not suggest that we
+were overcrowded, for we had plenty of elbow-room to move about on the
+atoms to which we were attached. All in a moment the scene was changed.
+We felt a crowd of electrons pressing us forward and forcing us right up
+to the very end of the electrode. We found that the crowd was
+approaching by a wire leading into the tube. Soon the crowding had
+reached such a condition that we became alarmed; we could see no way of
+escape. We were imprisoned by the glass walls, but we soon discovered
+that many of the electrons who had been stationed on the other electrode
+had deserted their posts and fled along a wire leading out of the tube.
+If we could only follow them. It would be a tremendous jump to get over
+to the other wire, but the way was fairly clear of air. When the
+overcrowding reached a certain point we were literally shot across from
+the one electrode to the other. This was the first time I had ever
+experienced anything of the kind, but many fellow-electrons had gone
+through similar performances for years at the hands of other
+experimenters.
+
+However, it was somewhat alarming to be fired off like a rocket across
+the tube. What happened after that I cannot recollect, but some time
+later I was present in that or a similar tube when I heard the
+experimenter say to a friend that he believed there were particles
+flying across his tube. We sent news all along the line stating that at
+last we had been discovered, and I can assure you that we felt proud.
+But our joy was not long-lived, for it turned out that we were
+considered to be particles or atoms of matter; the experimenter spoke of
+us as "radiant matter." This was a real disappointment.
+
+It took us some time to recover from our disappointment at being
+mistaken for clumsy atoms of matter. We are of a higher order of things
+altogether. No atom of matter can travel at speeds such as we can. We
+cross these vacuum tubes with speeds equal to millions of miles per
+minute.
+
+A great many of us were kept busy within vacuum tubes by other
+experimenters, but nothing very exciting happened. Indeed, we had lost
+all hope of attracting man's attention to ourselves as long as we were
+imprisoned within these tubes. In the meantime our hopes were revived by
+news which reached us from another quarter.
+
+We heard that a very learned man had declared boldly that there did
+exist little particles which revolved around the atoms of matter, and
+that it was the motion of these tiny particles in the aether which
+produced the well-known waves of _light_. There was considerable
+rejoicing among us, for we were anxious to have our services recognised
+by man. This great man was not guessing merely; he was willing to prove
+by mathematical calculations that we did exist in reality. Of course, we
+ourselves required no proof of our existence, but we believed that man
+would be convinced. Our high hopes were soon laid low; news reached us
+that people were shaking their heads and saying that figures could be
+made to prove anything.
+
+After we had settled down to our ordinary duties, we got word that at
+last man had really detected us in a flame of gas. This seemed quite
+reasonable, for, as I shall relate to you in another chapter, we have a
+very lively time of it in a flame of gas. However, when we were
+informed that man had discovered us by means of a sort of telescope
+arrangement, I, for one, began to doubt the truth of the discovery. Some
+time before this I had heard that men were spying at gas flames in the
+hope of finding us, and this seemed most ridiculous, for if man could
+not see the large congregations of us called _atoms_, how could he
+expect to see individual electrons? My ignorance was dispelled when it
+was explained that man had not been looking for us directly, but for the
+aether waves which we produce. But I have not had an opportunity of
+explaining to you how some of us produce waves in the aether; I shall
+have to wait till a later chapter. In the meantime I may say that since
+this important discovery I have taken some part in an experiment similar
+to the historic one wherein we were detected, but of that too I shall
+have more to say again.
+
+The rejoicing at this discovery was not confined to us, for men of
+science were quick to grasp the importance which was attached to this
+new knowledge. We felt that man was bound to acknowledge our services
+from that day. The next event was our christening, and this was not all
+plain sailing. Indeed, we have been rather annoyed with one name which
+some good friends persist in giving us. I refer to the name _corpuscle_,
+which we feel to be a sort of nickname, although it may have been
+suggested in all kindness. It may be difficult for you to appreciate our
+dislike to this name, but it seems to us to savour too much of material
+things. It is not dignified; you must remember we are not matter. We are
+delighted with what we prefer to call our real name--electron--for that
+speaks of electricity. As you know, we are units of particles of
+negative electricity, and so this seems a most sensible and suitable
+name. But I must hasten to tell of some of our everyday duties in which
+we serve man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A STEADY MARCH
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER SEVEN_
+
+    The steady motion of electrons from atom to atom along a wire,
+    or other conductor, constitutes the well-known "electric
+    current."
+
+    The moving electrons disturb the aether around the wire and
+    produce what we know as a "magnetic field."
+
+    The electron explains why it is necessary to have a complete
+    circuit before any electric current can take place.
+
+    Also how one length of wire may be used to connect two distant
+    places provided the two extremities of the wire are buried in
+    the earth.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+A STEADY MARCH
+
+
+Personally I knew nothing about marching until quite recently. Indeed,
+none of my fellow-electrons seem to have had definite ideas of regular
+marches previous to last century. That century is prominent in our
+history as well as in man's. There is no doubt that before then we must
+have made more or less regular marches through the crust of the earth
+and elsewhere; but for myself I have no such recollection previous to
+the following occasion.
+
+The experience was not a very exciting one. I found myself passing along
+from atom to atom in a copper wire. But what was of special interest to
+us was that it became evident that these enforced marches were being
+deliberately controlled by man. Of course you will understand that man
+knew nothing of our existence at that time. All he knew was that when
+he placed a piece of zinc and a piece of copper in a chemical solution,
+there were certain effects produced in some mysterious fashion. For
+instance, when he connected the top of the two metals in this chemical
+cell or "battery" by a piece of wire, he got what he described as an
+_electric current_. Now all that happened really was this. The chemical
+action in this battery which man had devised caused a rearrangement
+among the atoms composing the metals and the solution, with the result
+that we poor electrons had to rearrange our domiciles. As an
+accumulation of electrons gathered on the zinc, some of us were forced
+along the connecting wire towards the copper. As long as the chemical
+action in the battery was kept up, so long were we kept on the march
+from the zinc to the copper by way of the wire.
+
+Man tried increasing the length of this wire bridge across which we had
+to pass, but we had no difficulty in making our way along. But you must
+not run away with the idea that we rush along the wire with lightning
+speed. Although we can fly through the aether at a prodigious speed, our
+progress from atom to atom in a wire is more like a snail-pace. As a
+matter of fact, our rate of march is much less than the walking pace of
+a man; indeed it may be stated conveniently as so many yards per hour.
+
+Some people may find it difficult to believe that our rate of march is
+so very slow. Their front door is a good many yards away from their
+electric bell, but it does not take us an hour, or any appreciable part
+of a minute, to summon the maid. The secret is that there is a whole
+regiment of us along the wire, and before one of us moves on to a
+neighbouring atom, another electron must move off that atom and on to
+its neighbour, and so on. In this way the electrons at the far end of
+the wire commence to move at practically the same moment as those near
+the battery.
+
+It has been a source of amusement to me to see people perfectly
+mystified by the fact that they can get no electric current unless they
+have a complete circuit. What else could they expect? How could man
+march if he had no road to march on? You see, the reason for our march
+is that we wish to escape from the overcrowding on the zinc, and we are
+forced towards the copper. The atoms composing the wire are our
+stepping-stones, and if there is not a complete chain of atoms we are
+helpless. You have already heard how we can jump an air-space under very
+great pressure, but that condition does not exist in the present case.
+When we are disturbed by the chemical action of the battery, we should
+prefer to have a short-cut from the zinc to the copper, but if the only
+path man gives us is by way of a long wire, then we must be content to
+travel that road, in order to reach the copper. It is a matter of little
+moment to us what arrangement man makes as long as he gives us a
+complete path. For instance, he may lead us out from the zinc to a
+distant telegraph instrument, and then, instead of providing a second
+wire to take us back to the battery, he may conduct us by a short wire
+to the earth. We are quite content to lose ourselves in this great
+reservoir, provided man places another short wire from the earth to the
+copper of the battery at the other end of the line. Then as we slip off
+at the one end of the line, an equal number of electrons can climb up at
+the other end, and thus enable all our friends in the long wire to keep
+up a steady march.
+
+This march of ours is not merely a means of transporting ourselves from
+one place to another; it is to enable us to do work. It is only when we
+are in motion that we can do useful work, for we must move before we can
+disturb the aether, and it is by means of the aether that we transmit
+energy.
+
+If you place a magnetic needle or mariner's compass near a wire along
+which we are making a steady march, you will find that we can affect our
+fellow-electrons who are stationed within the magnetic needle. We cause
+the needle to swing round and take up a position at right angles to our
+line of march. We succeed in doing this because these electrons in the
+magnetic needle are on the move also. But this reminds me that I have
+never told you how we produce that aether disturbance which you call
+_magnetism_.
+
+When, as children, you played with toy magnets in the nursery, little
+did you think that there was a host of tiny electrons amusing you. And
+yet we electrons are responsible entirely for all magnetic effects, as I
+shall proceed to explain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A USEFUL DANCE
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER EIGHT_
+
+    We believe magnetism to be due to electrons revolving around
+    atoms of iron and other magnetic substances, as related by the
+    electron in this chapter.
+
+    We have seen that the steady motion of electrons along a wire
+    produces a magnetic field around the wire.
+
+    Therefore if we have electrons revolving round and round the
+    atoms in a piece of iron, there will be a miniature magnetic
+    field around each atom.
+
+    The electron explains why a piece of iron does not show the
+    magnetic power locked up within it until it is "magnetised."
+
+    The electron refers to electro-magnets; an electro-magnet is
+    simply a piece of soft iron with a coil of insulated wire wound
+    around it.
+
+    The iron only shows its magnetic power as long as a current of
+    electricity is kept passing through the surrounding coil of
+    wire, for reasons which the electron explains.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+A USEFUL DANCE
+
+
+I may tell you quite frankly that I have never taken part in the
+perpetual dance of which I am about to tell you. I am of a free
+and roaming disposition, but I have often watched some of my
+fellow-electrons at this work. Of course, it is pleasant work, as all
+our duties are, now that man acknowledges our services.
+
+We are responsible for the behaviour of the mariner's compass needle. It
+is we who cause it to point continually in one definite direction. If we
+ceased to dance around the iron atoms in the compass needle aboard a
+ship, the man at the helm could not tell in what direction he was going,
+and sooner or later he would be almost certain to wreck his vessel. For
+this service alone man ought to be grateful to us, but before I have
+finished my story, you will find that even this important duty is but a
+small affair when compared with many of our other tasks.
+
+There is one matter I should like to make quite clear to you. Although
+we electrons are all identical, we have different stations to fill. You
+have doubtless become familiar with my roving disposition, and you
+probably think of me as a detachable electron. Then there are our
+friends who are locked up within the atoms of matter--part and parcel of
+the atom. And now I am introducing you to those electrons who act as
+satellites to the atoms, revolving around them at a comparatively great
+distance, just as the moon revolves around the earth. These are the
+electrons which give rise to the magnetism in a piece of iron. There are
+other electrons which perform very rapid revolutions around all classes
+of atoms, but I shall introduce these friends later on.
+
+[Illustration: A TOBACCO-TIN DEFYING GRAVITATION
+
+That phenomenon known as "magnetism" is due to the steady locomotion of
+electrons, as explained in the text. Here we see a large magnet
+attracting a tinned iron box which is tethered to the table by two
+cords. The result is that the box is supported in the air. The spiral
+wires are connected to the electro-magnet, an explanation of which is
+given in Chapter VIII.]
+
+I need hardly remark that a piece of ordinary iron does not behave like
+a magnet. Indeed, it is fortunate that it does not. If it did, man could
+not get along with his work very well. The hammer would stick to the
+head of the nail it had struck, the fire-irons would stick to the
+fender, while the cook's pots and pans would hold on to the kitchen
+range. That would be a very stupid arrangement, but we electrons have
+really no say in the matter of arrangement. We are always on the move,
+performing a perpetual dance around the iron atoms, but the atoms
+arrange themselves in a higgledy-piggledy fashion, so that the electrons
+on one atom pull the aether in one direction while others pull the aether
+in an opposite direction. In this way the outward effect is not
+perceptible. When, however, man places a coil of wire around the iron,
+and makes a crowd of electrons march along the wire, these marching
+electrons affect the aether, which in turn influences the satellite
+electrons which are revolving around the atoms of iron. You may be
+somewhat surprised when I tell you that, owing to this aether
+disturbance, these satellite electrons are able to produce a
+rearrangement among the atoms. If you doubt my word, you may easily
+prove the truth of the statement. If you magnetise a long bar of iron
+you will find that its length is actually altered. This is due to our
+having disturbed the arrangement of the atoms.
+
+Perhaps I should explain that when we force the atoms into their new
+condition, we can do so only under the aether stress set up by our
+fellow-electrons who are marching in the neighbouring wire. Whenever
+their march ceases the aether stress is withdrawn, and the atoms are able
+to fall back into their old higgledy-piggledy condition. In this way man
+is able to make a piece of iron a magnet and to unmake it as often as he
+cares by simply switching on and off the electric current from the wire
+surrounding the iron.
+
+If a piece of hard steel is used in place of soft iron, then we find
+that the atoms are not so easily disturbed, but when they are once
+brought into line with one another, they will remain in their new
+condition after the aether disturbance has been withdrawn. It may seem
+strange to you that quite a small percentage of carbon atoms added to
+the pure soft iron should cause such a marked difference, but the matter
+seems plain enough to us. Man was so impressed with the manner in which
+the atoms were evidently fixed in their new condition that he spoke of
+_permanent magnets_. It is especially fortunate for man that these
+pieces of steel do retain their magnetism, and give us a reliable
+mariner's compass. But I shall tell you how you may disturb even these
+sedate atoms. If you hammer the metal very vigorously, or if you heat it
+to redness, you will find that the atoms have been freed from what
+appeared to be their permanent position, and they are back to their old
+higgledy-piggledy condition, so that we electrons are all opposing one
+another. Remember we are hard at work all the time although we may be
+giving no outward sign of our activity.
+
+While we render an important aid to man by providing this permanent
+magnet for his compass, you will find that a very great deal of our
+assistance to man in his everyday life depends upon our behaviour in
+soft iron electro-magnets. It is in these that man can control our
+behaviour at will. It is through this simple piece of apparatus--the
+electro-magnet--that man has been able to accomplish so much in
+signalling to his friends at a distance. It is also by means of these
+electro-magnets that man can get us to turn an electric motor, and so
+on. But I must tell you, first of all, how we enable man to signal to a
+distance, or, in other words, how we carry man's news.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HOW WE CARRY MAN'S NEWS
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER NINE_
+
+    The electron explains wherein its method differs from all other
+    methods.
+
+    It is well known that within recent years the old iron telegraph
+    wires have been replaced by much lighter copper wires; the
+    electron explains the reason for this change.
+
+    It describes how the electrons manage to work the most widely
+    used form of telegraph instrument, which is called the "Morse,"
+    after its inventor.
+
+    Here we find one of the practical applications of the
+    electro-magnet described in the preceding chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+HOW WE CARRY MAN'S NEWS
+
+
+It is we electrons who have so very far outdistanced all material
+carriers of news. You must acknowledge that the best runner, the
+swiftest horse, the fastest express train, and the prize carrier pigeon,
+are all nowhere when compared with us electrons.
+
+But I do not wish to mislead you in any way, and I can speak from
+personal experience in this case. We do not race off with man's messages
+in the same sense as these other messengers do. Our swiftness of
+communication depends upon the simple fact that man provides a whole
+connecting regiment of us between the two distant places. And when the
+order to march is given we all move off at practically the same moment.
+In this way the electrons at the far end of the connecting wire are able
+to cause signals there immediately. This is the secret of man's success
+in being able to hold immediate communication with his distant friends.
+His success is due entirely to the co-operation of us electrons.
+
+My personal experience has been in connection with a very simple
+telegraphic arrangement. Indeed, the most of our duties in transmitting
+messages are performed with this particular kind of instrument, known as
+a "Morse sounder."
+
+At the time of which I speak, I had become attached to an atom of iron
+in the end of a long telegraph wire. From this you will probably guess
+that my experience was gained some time ago, for man does not use iron
+wires nowadays in fitting up telegraph lines. He used iron at first, and
+some of these lines still exist, but when he discovered that a very much
+lighter copper wire would serve the same purpose, he discarded the heavy
+iron wires. Man explained the matter by saying that the copper offered
+less resistance to the electric current, and the majority of people were
+quite satisfied with this kind of explanation. Of course these are
+merely convenient phrases which give man no real reason for the
+difference. The real reason is that we electrons are able to move about
+from one copper atom to another with very much greater ease than we can
+among the iron atoms. That is the reason why man made the change from
+iron to copper wires, although he had no idea of the reason at the time.
+
+To return to my experience in connection with a telegraph instrument, I
+found that we were being subjected to a series of forced marches. The
+whole regiment of electrons along the line made a forward move. The line
+of march ended in a short length of fine wire wound around a piece of
+soft iron to form an electro-magnet. The end of the wire dipped into the
+earth, as I have explained in an earlier chapter.
+
+Now all that we electrons had to do was to make a forward move, halt,
+forward again, another halt, and so on. Sometimes the signal to halt was
+longer in being given than at other times, but we found that this was
+intentional, and that there were two definite lengths of march. I have
+explained already how we marching electrons cause an electro-magnet to
+attract a piece of iron and let it go again as soon as we cease
+marching. It only remains for me to give you a general statement of how
+we work the Morse telegraph.
+
+Man has arranged a little lever with an iron end-piece immediately above
+the electro-magnet, so that the magnet may attract it. Of course you are
+aware that it is the electrons within the soft-iron core of the
+electro-magnet who produce the magnetic effect. Every time we electrons
+in the surrounding wire make a forward move, the electro-magnet pulls
+down the end of the little lever referred to. As long as we keep
+marching, so long will the end of the lever remain down, but the moment
+we halt, the lever is free to be pulled up by a spring attached to it.
+The movements of the lever indicate the length of our long and short
+marches, and it is by means of these that man sends signals. All that he
+does is to control our march, by means of an electric push and a battery
+at one end of the wire, and it is we who produce the signals at the
+distant end of the wire. Each time man presses the push we move the
+distant lever. When we pull the lever down it is so arranged that it
+makes a sound like "click," and when we let it spring up against a stop
+it makes another sound not unlike "clack." Our long and short marches
+are therefore converted into long and short "click-clacks." Man has made
+a simple code of signals representing his alphabet, and right merrily do
+we rap out the signals for which we receive orders at the distant end of
+the wire, while some one at the other end listens to the sounds we cause
+to be made.
+
+I have told you enough of our duties to let you see how we are able to
+carry man's news from one part of the earth to any other part. By far
+the greatest part of our signalling work is done with this simple Morse
+sounder.
+
+It may interest you to note that we can produce those signals far faster
+than man can read them. When man found this out he took advantage of our
+powers. He made an automatic transmitter which could manipulate the
+make-and-break of the battery current far more rapidly than any human
+fingers could do. Then as we rapped off the signals with lightning speed
+at the distant end, he attached a little ink-wheel to the end of the
+moving lever, so that it could mark short and long strokes on a ribbon
+of paper passing close to it. Although man could not distinguish the
+signals by his ear he was able to read the record of those we caused to
+be left upon the paper ribbon.
+
+We have been made to work many other forms of telegraph instruments. In
+some of these we control type-letters, while in others we imitate
+handwriting, but all these are merely adaptations of our powers of
+marching. We are proud of our achievements in rapid signalling, which
+all right-thinking people have not been slow to acknowledge.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW WE COMMUNICATE WITH DISTANT SHIPS
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER TEN_
+
+    In this chapter the electron deals with that modern
+    marvel--_Wireless Telegraphy_.
+
+    Here the aether of space plays a very prominent part.
+
+    The author has given some particulars about the aether in the
+    first chapter (_What the Story is about_).
+
+    In conjunction with that, the electron may be left to tell its
+    own story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+HOW WE COMMUNICATE WITH DISTANT SHIPS
+
+
+Our duties in this case are totally different from those of which I have
+been telling you. While we electrons can do many wonderful things, we
+cannot march through space. We may be fired off like bullets from the
+sun to the earth, but that is quite another matter. I shall have
+something to say about that fact later on. You have seen already that
+man can make us jump only a very short distance, even when he has
+cleared our path of the obstructing air, as he does in a vacuum tube.
+
+If men were to provide us with a complete path of metal atoms from the
+shore to the ship, we could set to work upon the simple plan which I
+have described in the preceding chapter. But, needless to say, man has
+more sense than to attempt to keep up metallic connection with a ship
+going away out to sea.
+
+Even the wisest men were surprised when they heard that we electrons
+could signal through space to great distances without any connecting
+wires. We ourselves were not surprised. Had we not been doing this very
+thing from the foundation of the world? Our fellow-electrons in the sun
+have never ceased to communicate with those of us upon the earth. Of
+course I am referring at present to those aether waves which man calls
+_heat_ and _light_. But the waves which we make to carry man's messages
+through space are of the very same nature, the only difference being
+that they are much longer, or, in other words, much farther apart. They
+do not follow each other so closely, and they do not affect the eye or
+the sense of touch. However, these long waves are able to bestir some of
+us electrons who are situated at a great distance from the sending
+electrons.
+
+Our method of producing such waves in the aether is by surging to and fro
+from atom to atom in an upright wire. When we make a rapid to-and-fro
+motion we send out great waves in the aether. The original plan adopted
+by man was to make us jump across a spark-gap, but in this case also it
+was our rapid oscillation to and fro that produced the waves. If we wish
+the waves to carry to a great distance, we must club together in
+considerable force to supply the necessary energy. The energy which we
+can get from a battery and induction coil is not sufficient for any very
+long distances. In such cases we require the aid of a _dynamo_, a
+machine about which I shall have some experience to relate in another
+chapter.
+
+In communicating through space, our position is very similar to that of
+two men shouting to one another over a distance. The one man disturbs
+the air, thus sending air-waves (sound) over to his friend, and these
+waves produce certain sensations which he can interpret. I should like
+you to understand that we electrons are upon a higher plane than atoms
+of matter. We cause waves in the all-pervading aether, not among clumsy
+particles of air. After these aether waves have travelled enormous
+distances they retain sufficient energy to disturb electrons situated at
+the distant place.
+
+I shall tell you of the first experience I had in this connection. I
+found myself attached to an atom of _nickel_, a kind of atom which looks
+to us electrons very much like an iron atom, because it has nearly the
+same number of electrons composing it, only they are arranged
+differently. But I was telling you that I found myself on this nickel
+atom sealed up in a small glass tube. Of course there were myriads of
+similar atoms all around me, but I did not feel very happy. I was being
+urged forward, and yet I could not get across from some atoms to others,
+for the nickel was in the form of loose filings. From past experience I
+knew that there was a battery along the line somewhere; I could feel the
+strain. All of a sudden I was startled to find that I could move
+forward. Exactly what happened, I am not at liberty to tell, but this
+much I may say, that it was the arrival of some aether waves which
+altered the condition of things among the filings in the tube.
+
+[Illustration: A MOTOR-CAR WITH WIRELESS TELEGRAPH
+
+It has become quite a fashion in America to have motor-cars fitted up
+for wireless telegraphy. That the electrons play an important part in
+telegraphing through space is explained fully in Chapter X.]
+
+We had just started out on our march forward when we received such a
+shaking that we found ourselves in the same isolated positions as at
+first; we could not get across from one particle to another. More
+aether waves arrived, we made a fresh start, then came another rude
+shaking, and so on we went starting and stopping. Indeed, it was the
+regularity of these long and short marches that gave me the first idea
+that we were being controlled by some telegraph operator. We were amused
+to find that the rude shaking, of which I have been telling you, was
+caused by the action of some of our fellow-electrons. Some of them in
+their march around an electro-magnet in the receiving instrument caused
+a little lever to knock against our tube and give us a sudden jolt.
+
+I should like you to notice that the energy with which we moved the
+telegraph instrument did not come from the distant station. It was a
+local battery which worked the receiving instrument, but this battery
+was controlled by the incoming aether waves affecting the tube of
+filings. There is really no mystery about the matter, but I am anxious
+not to take credit for anything more wonderful than we have actually
+accomplished.
+
+We electrons have rendered a very great service to man by enabling him
+to communicate with his friends who are far out on the ocean, and cut
+off from all possible chance of material communication. We are willing
+to serve man on land also, though we very much prefer the ordinary
+marching arrangement if he will provide a connecting wire. The fact is
+that we find it very much more difficult to send aether waves over land
+than we do over water.
+
+I have heard some men ask how many different telegraph instruments may
+be worked at one place simultaneously without confusion. That is a
+question for man himself to answer. We electrons are able to produce any
+variety of waves of different frequency or length; it remains only for
+man to construct apparatus that will respond only to a definite rate of
+waves. I hear that man has made considerable progress in tuning the
+wireless instruments.
+
+Some men are eager to get us to carry messages through space across the
+great oceans from shore to shore. We shall not refuse, provided man
+supplies sufficient energy, but I must admit that we electrons prefer
+the submarine cable. Of course man may put this down to our laziness; we
+certainly prefer as little severe straining as possible.
+
+I have been telling you of my earliest and only personal experience in
+connection with space telegraphy. I understand that greatly improved
+methods have been adopted since that time, but I have never happened to
+drift in their direction.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HOW WE REPRODUCE SPEECH
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER ELEVEN_
+
+    In the first part of this chapter the electron explains the part
+    it plays in ordinary telephony.
+
+    The reader will picture the transmitting instrument at the one
+    end of the line influencing the receiving instrument at the
+    distant end.
+
+    Towards the end of the chapter the electron turns its attention
+    to the newer subject of _wireless telephony_, which has been
+    accomplished now over a distance of several hundred miles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+HOW WE REPRODUCE SPEECH
+
+
+My scribe suggested a rather clumsy title for this chapter--"Electrons
+_versus_ atoms as carriers of speech." I expect he made this suggestion
+without much thought, for there are two serious objections to such a
+title.
+
+In the first place, we are not carriers of speech. We are controlled by
+speech at one end of the telephone line, and we make a reproduction of
+the speech at the distant end of the line. No sound passes between the
+two places; there is only a movement of electrons along the connecting
+line.
+
+My second objection to the hurriedly suggested title is that it is
+hardly fair to make any comparison between the achievements of atoms of
+matter and those of ourselves. We are not in the same category as
+atoms. Besides, we electrons are dependent entirely upon the material
+atoms for making our work useful to man. For instance, we might keep on
+making waves in the aether for all time, and yet if the atoms of matter
+were to pay no heed to those imperceptible waves, man would never be
+aware of their presence. Indeed we electrons act solely as go-betweens.
+On the other hand, it is only fair to ourselves to point out that a
+group of atoms in one town could never communicate with a group of atoms
+in a distant town unless we electrons came to their aid. It is true that
+over a very short distance the atoms may communicate directly. For
+instance, if a heavy blow is given to a large gong, the atoms of metal
+may vibrate so energetically that they succeed in disturbing the atoms
+of gas of the surrounding atmosphere for some considerable distance. But
+in the case of speech, the speaker cannot supply any great energy, so
+that he can disturb the atmosphere only to a very limited distance. We
+electrons, however, can do yeoman service in this respect. We have
+enabled men to speak to one another over immense distances.
+
+The whole affair is very simple. Man speaks and causes the atmospheric
+atoms to vibrate and impinge upon a light disc or diaphragm in a simple
+instrument which man has named the _telephone_. This vibrating disc
+presses upon a myriad of carbon particles contained in a small case or
+box, the disc forming one side of the box. When these carbon particles
+are pressed together we electrons can get across more easily from atom
+to atom. There is a battery urging us forward, but our motion is
+dependent entirely upon the manner in which the vibrating disc presses
+upon the carbon particles. I cannot describe our movement in the
+line-wire as a march; it is in reality a surging to and fro.
+
+You will understand that this to-and-fro motion of the electrons in the
+line-wire varies according to the vibrations of the sending disc, which
+is controlled by the speaker's voice. At the distant end of the line we
+electrons bring our magnetic powers into action. We keep varying the
+attractive powers of an electro-magnet, according to the motion of the
+electrons in the wire. This ever-changing magnet produces vibrations in
+an iron disc which is fixed close to the magnet. This disc is set
+vibrating in exact sympathy with the sending disc. When the listener
+places this receiving disc close to his ear, the vibrations are carried
+by the atmospheric atoms to his hearing apparatus. All that we electrons
+have done is to cause one disc to vibrate in exact synchrony with
+another distant disc. But that is all that is required, for the
+receiving disc will reproduce similar air-vibrations to those set up by
+the man's voice at the distant place. I have pointed out already that we
+do not attempt to carry the sound. It is true that the atoms of matter
+do the hard work, but it is we electrons who enable a group of atoms in
+one town to communicate with a group of atoms in a distant town.
+
+It was natural that as soon as man found that he could work his
+telegraph instruments without the aid of connecting wires, he should try
+to do the same with his telephone instruments. We were sorry when we
+found men trying to use the original spark-telegraphy methods for
+telephones. While we had no difficulty in operating a telegraph
+instrument by means of aether waves and the tube of filings, it was quite
+impossible for us to produce telephone vibrations on the same
+principle. This spark method was a too rough-and-ready plan. The waves
+we produced were like sudden splashes in the aether ocean, whereas we
+knew that we must produce regular trains of continuous waves in order to
+reproduce telephone vibrations. However, you may be aware that we have
+succeeded by a different arrangement of apparatus. Indeed it may
+interest you to know that one of my most recent experiences has been in
+connection with some wireless-telephone experiments.
+
+Unfortunately I was not in a very favourable position to learn all that
+was going on, but it was quite exciting work. I happened to be attached
+to an atom of copper in a length of wire which had been run up into the
+air on a sort of flag-pole arrangement. I need hardly say that I was not
+alone, for by this time you will have become accustomed to picture
+myriads of electrons occupying a very small space.
+
+We were set vibrating to and fro with tremendous energy, but what
+bothered me most was the great variation in our movements. It was the
+nature of these variations which gave me the clue that we were being
+controlled by the vibrations of a telephone disc. I can tell you we did
+make a complex series of waves in the surrounding aether! These waves
+went out through space and influenced some electrons stationed at a
+great distance. When these electrons at the receiving station were set
+in motion they controlled the electric current from a local battery
+which set a second telephone disc vibrating in synchrony with the one at
+the sending station.
+
+On questioning some of my fellow-electrons who happened to have been
+nearer the transmitting part of the instrument than I had been, I got
+some interesting information. They tell me that there was a dynamo and
+an arc lamp in our circuit, while the telephone instrument was in a
+neighbouring circuit. The electrons surging to and fro in the telephone
+circuit influenced those energetic electrons in the arc-lamp circuit to
+which the aerial wire was attached. You see that my position in the aerial
+wire was not a very advantageous one for observing what was taking
+place.
+
+This was truly a great achievement--to enable one man to speak to
+another distant hundreds of miles, and without the aid of any connecting
+wire. I think you will agree with me that we have excelled all past
+records in the world of wonders.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OUR HEAVIEST DUTIES
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER TWELVE_
+
+    Here the electron explains its behaviour in a dynamo at work.
+
+    The principle of the dynamo was discovered by Faraday in the
+    thirties of last century.
+
+    He found that when a coil of wire was moved through a magnetic
+    field, there was a current of electricity induced in the moving
+    coil.
+
+    Experimental machines were constructed, and after a while a
+    practical dynamo was evolved.
+
+    Wires are attached to a dynamo and the electric current is led
+    out.
+
+    This current may be conducted to a distant tramway car, and, by
+    sending the current through an electric motor, mechanical motion
+    is produced and the car propelled along.
+
+    An electric motor is practically the same as a dynamo, but
+    instead of turning its coil round in order to produce an
+    electric current, we pass a current into the coil and it moves
+    round. It will be sufficient to leave the electron to tell its
+    own story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+OUR HEAVIEST DUTIES
+
+
+This is another of those roving commissions in which I have been
+privileged to take part on more than one occasion.
+
+If you think of the giant size of an electric tramway car or a railway
+train, and try to compare one of these with an electron, such as your
+humble servant, it will seem quite ridiculous that I should suggest that
+it is we electrons who move those huge vehicles. Yet such is the actual
+case.
+
+Of course we require the application of very considerable power to urge
+us to so heavy a task. All the energy which we can get from a few
+electric batteries might enable us to drive a toy car, but when it comes
+to turning the wheels of a real car or train, we require a
+correspondingly greater amount of energy.
+
+I may as well tell you quite frankly that we electrons are only the
+intermediaries or go-betweens. Indeed, you must have noticed that in
+every case we act merely as a connecting link between matter and the
+aether, and between the aether and matter.
+
+But what I want to tell you of, is the part we play in moving an
+electric car or railway train. It is really all very simple if you could
+only see it from our standpoint. Picture a host of us attached to copper
+atoms in a coil of wire which is being moved through that disturbed
+aether called a _magnetic field_. We are set in motion immediately. It is
+true that when we are moved forward into the field we march off in one
+direction, only to be arrested and made to move off in the opposite
+direction as we leave the field, but it really makes no difference in
+our working capabilities as long as we are kept on the move. This is
+what is actually taking place in the armature of a dynamo as it revolves
+between the poles of the electro-magnet. There is no peace for us so
+long as the coil is kept revolving; we are kept in a constant state of
+rapid to-and-fro motion.
+
+[Illustration: A TRAIN IMPELLED BY MOVING ELECTRONS
+
+_By permission of Siemens Schuckert Werke_
+
+_Berlin_
+
+It is remarkable that the motion of electrons in an electric conductor
+can result in the movement of heavy vehicles. How this comes about is
+explained in Chapter XII.]
+
+This is all we electrons do in a dynamo, but when the ends of the outer
+circuit or mains are brought into contact with the ends of our
+revolving coil, we set the electrons in the mains surging to and fro in
+step with ourselves. Man describes this motion of the electrons in the
+mains as an _alternating electric current_, but by a simple commutator
+on the dynamo he may arrange that we set the electrons marching in one
+direction in the mains. This he describes as a _direct electric
+current_.
+
+It is a matter of indifference to us whether man drives our coil round
+by means of a steam-engine, a water-wheel, or a wind-mill; all that we
+electrons want is to be kept surging or vibrating to and fro. Now you
+will be able to appreciate how we electrons get up sufficient motion to
+enable us to perform what I have described as _our heaviest duties_.
+
+Perhaps you will find it difficult to believe me when I tell you that as
+we march along the connecting wire to a distant tramway car we transmit
+the energy through the surrounding aether, and not through the wire. This
+is our mode of working in every case, whether it be an electric bell, a
+telegraph, or telephone. That is to say, while we electrons move from
+atom to atom in the connecting wire, it is the disturbed aether
+surrounding us which transmits the energy. You must have realised by
+this time how very intimate is the relationship between ourselves and
+the aether.
+
+To return to the tale of our tramway work, you will picture my
+fellow-electrons aboard the car being energised by the incoming current.
+Those electrons present in the armature coil of the motor are set into
+motion, as also are those in the wire of the neighbouring
+electro-magnet. The result is that these two sets of electrons so
+disturb the aether and affect one another that the coil is moved round
+into a different position. You will remember the experiment of which I
+told you, in which a magnetic needle would insist always in taking up a
+position at right angles to a wire in which an electric current is
+passing. Well, when the motor coil has turned into its new position, we
+electrons receive an impulse from our friends in the line-wire which
+causes us to retrace our steps in the coil. This action of ours causes
+the coil to make a further movement in the same direction as at first.
+Again we change our direction of march, and again the coil changes its
+position towards the electro-magnet. The sole duty of these electrons in
+the armature coil is to keep surging to and fro, while those electrons
+in the electro-magnet keep up a steady march in one direction. This
+arrangement necessitates the armature coil to keep changing its position
+continually, and when we have the armature coil spinning round at a
+steady pace, it is easy for man to connect the armature to the axles of
+the tramway car and cause us to drive the wheels round.
+
+I need hardly say that it makes no difference to us whether we are asked
+to drive a tramway car, a railway train, or a host of machines in a
+factory or workshop. All that we electrons in the motor require is to
+have sufficient energy passed along to us from our fellows in the
+distant dynamo. Again I admit frankly that the atoms of matter play a
+very important part in these our heaviest duties, but you will see that
+without our active assistance they could not transmit the necessary
+energy to a distant car or train.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A BOON TO MAN
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER THIRTEEN_
+
+    While it has been known for a long time that _light_ and
+    _radiant heat_ are merely waves in the aether, it was not known
+    until recently how these waves were produced.
+
+    The discovery of electrons has given us a reasonable solution of
+    our difficulty.
+
+    The electron explains the actions of its fellows in this great
+    work of producing light and heat.
+
+    Incidentally the electron explains how they produce an aurora in
+    the heavens, and how it is that the earth has become a
+    negatively electrified body.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+A BOON TO MAN
+
+
+Every living thing is dependent upon our activities. It is we electrons
+who send out heat and light from the sun, and it is we who receive these
+on their arrival upon this planet. Our action in the matter is really
+very simple, but until man discovered our existence, he was mystified
+considerably.
+
+We were amused to hear man say that the atoms of incandescent matter in
+the sun produced waves in the aether, and that when these aether waves
+fell upon other atoms on this planet, these were set into a state of
+vibration, thus producing heat and light. Now if man had only stopped to
+think, he would have seen how ridiculous it was to speak of atoms of
+matter producing waves in the aether. He ought to have known that atoms
+of matter cannot affect the aether, for it offers no resistance to
+matter moving through it.
+
+Man might have pictured himself riding on the back of this great planet,
+flying through space at a speed very similar to that of a rifle bullet,
+and yet even the flimsy blanket of air surrounding the planet is not
+disturbed by the aether through which it is rushing.
+
+It is true that the atoms of matter play an important part in the origin
+of heat, but the atoms in the sun could no more affect the atoms on the
+earth than could a man on the earth push the moon about. It is the very
+intimate connection between us electrons and the all-pervading aether
+which enables our fellows in the sun to communicate with those of us
+upon this planet. Where would man be without us?
+
+[Illustration: PROTECTION AGAINST A DISCHARGE OF ELECTRONS
+
+_By permission of Siemens Schuckert Werke_
+
+_Berlin_
+
+When a man is encased completely in an over-all made of flexible
+metallic gauze he is proof against shock due to a discharge of
+high-tension electricity. The part played by electrons in the case of
+electric shock is explained in Chapter IV.]
+
+I cannot understand wherein man should find any mystery in connection
+with this very simple action of ours. You will picture our distant
+fellow-electrons making very rapid revolutions around the atoms of
+matter to which they are attached as satellites. Just as the moon
+circles around the earth, so do we circle around our atoms, but at an
+enormously greater speed. Of course the whole length of our orbit is
+inconceivably small, and the speed of our revolutions is inconceivably
+great. It is our rapid motion through the aether which produces those
+waves known to man as radiant heat and light. Some one may ask how it is
+that we electrons can disturb the aether while the giant atoms cannot.
+The obvious answer is that we are not matter, but electricity; we are
+not in the same category as atoms of matter.
+
+To complete the picture which I was drawing, you have only to think of
+the aether waves arriving upon this planet and disturbing sympathetic
+electrons, causing them to revolve around their atoms in similar fashion
+to our distant fellows who are producing the aether waves.
+
+It may be that some people get confused between this action and that of
+those electrons who are shot off bodily from the sun towards the earth.
+Believe me, there is no connection between the two things. The stream of
+electrons shot off from the sun is deflected towards the magnetic poles
+of the earth, and as the electrons enter the upper layers of the
+atmosphere they produce that beautiful luminous effect which man
+describes as an _Aurora_.
+
+I have never taken part in one of these great displays, for, as far as
+my recollection goes, I have never been in the sun, although some
+fellow-electrons declare that at one time we were all in the same great
+glowing mass of which the sun, and every member of the solar system,
+formed a part. However that may be, I certainly have no experience of
+aurorae, but I have assisted in producing the very same effect upon a
+small scale within a vacuum tube. The air remaining in these so-called
+vacuum tubes is just as rarified as the air in the upper layers of the
+atmosphere, and when we are shot across the tube we act in the same way
+as those electrons arriving upon this planet from the sun.
+
+You will observe that as a surplus of electrons arrives upon the earth
+from the sun, the earth is naturally a negatively electrified body, but
+I need hardly say that the earth does not keep all the electrons which
+arrive upon it.
+
+My scribe points out that I am wandering from the story which I set out
+to tell in this chapter, so I shall try and please him.
+
+The direct cause of light, whether it be natural or artificial, is the
+rapid motion of electrons around atoms of matter. If they revolve at a
+comparatively slow speed they produce those aether waves which man calls
+_radiant heat_. If these satellite electrons, however, desire to affect
+the eye of man, they have to move around at a very much greater speed.
+If we travel at too fast a speed, then we cease to cause the sensation
+of light. But, believe me, all the waves we make are of the same nature,
+no matter what names man has given them. The only difference we can make
+in the waves is the rate at which they follow one another. Of course we
+can also make them larger or smaller in height, or, in other words, of
+greater or less amplitude, but that does not affect their properties.
+
+In the following chapter I shall tell you of some remarkable phenomena
+which our different aether waves produce in the brain of man.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW WE PRODUCE COLOUR
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER FOURTEEN_
+
+    Colour is merely a sensation in the brain.
+
+    What the electrons really produce are aether waves, and these
+    give rise to the sensations of colour.
+
+    However, the electrons may claim to produce colour in the same
+    sense as we savages produce pain in fellow-men by firing
+    rifle-bullets at them.
+
+    The electron explains how some objects appear white, while
+    others are red, and so forth.
+
+    It explains also how electrons produce artificial light.
+
+    The electron twits man upon his ridiculously wasteful processes
+    of obtaining artificial light.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+HOW WE PRODUCE COLOUR
+
+
+In the preceding chapter I have been telling you how we electrons
+produce waves in the aether ocean. I pointed out that if we make the
+waves follow each other at too slow or too fast a rate they fail to
+affect man's eyes.
+
+It may seem strange to you that only a very small range of our aether
+waves should affect man's visionary apparatus. Of course this limitation
+lies beyond our province; we can produce endless variety of aether
+waves--it is man's organs which fail to appreciate the bulk of these.
+However, there is plenty of variety in the sensations which we can
+produce in man. If we make the waves follow each other at a certain
+speed, man says he has the sensation of _red_. If we move faster, he
+speaks of _orange-colour_, and as we increase our speed he names his
+further sensations as _yellow_, _green_, _blue_, and _violet_. Then if
+we combine all these waves--that is, if we produce them all at one
+time--he says he has the sensation of _white_. If we produce none of
+these waves, he calls the result _black_.
+
+While we electrons are very versatile, our actions are dependent in a
+great measure upon circumstances. For instance, if an electron is acting
+as a satellite to one particular kind of atom, its rate of revolution
+around that atom may be very different from that of an electron
+similarly attached to another kind of atom. We electrons are all
+identical, but the speed of revolution is determined by the kind of
+atom. The reason is very simple; electrons revolve around some atoms at
+a much greater distance than they would around other atoms. Those making
+only the smaller orbits not only get around their atoms in less time,
+but they are also travelling at a greater pace. It is this fact which
+enables the electrons to produce the various wave-lengths which
+stimulate the different colour sensations in the brain of man.
+
+I think you will have no difficulty in seeing how it is that we come to
+produce such a variety of wave-lengths--in other words, how we are able
+to make the waves follow each other more or less rapidly. You will
+understand that we do not produce colours; we merely make various waves
+in the aether, and these waves excite the colour sensations in man. I
+mention this simple fact, because I hear many people speaking of our
+aether waves as "coloured rays," which, of course, is quite a ridiculous
+description.
+
+Suppose some of those waves which give rise to the red sensation happen
+to fall upon a lump of matter which contains only electrons capable of
+producing waves that affect the green sensation. What will happen? There
+will be no response, and the object, although viewed by "red light,"
+will appear black.
+
+If an object, such as the white paper upon which my scribe is recording
+my story, contains a variety of atoms with electrons capable of
+revolving at all the different rates which produce colour sensations,
+then when "white light" falls upon the object it appears white (all the
+colour sensations combined). If, on the other hand, a "red light" only
+falls upon it, then only the electrons capable of responding to that
+rate of wave will be set in motion, and the object will appear red, and
+so on with the other rates of aether waves.
+
+So far I have been telling you what happens when different waves of
+light fall upon us. Now I shall endeavour to explain how man has caused
+us to produce artificial light. At present all man's methods in this
+direction are dependent upon making some substance so hot that it
+becomes incandescent. Even his most modern methods seem to us to be
+ridiculously wasteful and most roundabout. I shall speak only of the
+electric glow lamp, as I have had some experience in connection with
+this.
+
+On one occasion I had been taking part in a regular forward march from
+copper atom to copper atom in a conducting wire. I had no idea of the
+purpose of our march till I suddenly found myself handed over to some
+carbon atoms, who were in a very lively state of vibration. We had much
+more difficulty in making our way through this substance, and it was the
+passive resistance offered to the advance of the electrons who had
+preceded me that had driven the carbon atoms into this state of great
+excitement. In our march through the copper conductor we had been
+offered very little resistance, so that we had left the copper atoms in
+peace--at least man could not detect easily any excitement (heat). But
+so long as our forced march was maintained among the carbon atoms, so
+long did the high temperature exist.
+
+You will understand I and the other marching electrons did not produce
+the waves of light sent out by the glow lamp. What we did was to set the
+atoms of carbon into a rapid vibratory state, and they in turn caused
+their satellite electrons to hasten their pace. Some electrons produced
+one rate of waves, and some another rate, but by the time the carbon was
+incandescent there were electrons sending out all the variety of
+wave-lengths, the combination of which produces the sensation of white.
+
+I have accused man of adopting very wasteful processes, so I had better
+explain the matter. In the preceding description of what is occurring in
+an electric glow lamp, I have spoken only of those aether waves which
+constitute light. But there are myriads of electrons in the carbon of
+the glow lamp that never attain the requisite speed to produce those
+waves; they revolve around their atoms at too slow a rate. They
+certainly disturb the aether, but the crests of the waves are so far
+apart that they do not affect the eyes of man. The business of these
+waves is to set up heat in the bodies upon which they fall. You may be
+surprised to know that in this contrivance of man, called an electric
+glow lamp, and, indeed, in all his other artificial light-producers, he
+causes far more electrons to produce radiant heat than the desired light
+waves. A most wasteful process!
+
+Man has a long way to travel yet before he succeeds in producing
+artificial light by a reasonable process. Indeed I doubt if any of you
+can realise, as we do, how exceedingly stupid the existing methods are.
+Think for a moment of the glow-worm, in which we electrons produce light
+without setting up any wasteful heat waves. There is a strong contrast
+between this peaceful plan and that of the excited carbon atoms. When
+will man succeed in discovering this secret of ours?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WE SEND MESSAGES FROM THE STARS
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER FIFTEEN_
+
+    It is remarkable that man has been able to discover what the
+    distant stars are made of.
+
+    Our knowledge concerning the chemistry of the stars has been
+    obtained by means of the spectroscope, in which a beam of light
+    from the star is passed through a glass prism.
+
+    The result is the well-known image of the coloured spectrum, in
+    which certain well-defined lines appear, according to the
+    distant elements originating the aether waves.
+
+    The electron explains the whole subject from its own point of
+    view.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+WE SEND MESSAGES FROM THE STARS
+
+
+It is only within recent times that man has observed that we send
+messages from the distant stars to this planet. But there is nothing new
+to us in this proceeding; we have been busy sending these messages ever
+since the solar system was formed. Through all those ages we have kept
+on sending these messages, knowing that in time man must come to take
+notice of them.
+
+If the subject should happen to be new to you, you will be anxious to
+know to what kind of messages I refer. Needless to say, they are
+wireless messages--waves in the great aether ocean. The waves, to which I
+refer specially, fall within that small range of which I told you
+something in the preceding chapter. In other words, they are those waves
+to which man has given the name _light_. But what special information
+do these waves, coming from the stars, convey to man? They tell him of
+what materials these distant stars are made. Needless to say, it is we
+electrons who produce those informative waves.
+
+You are familiar with our method of producing waves. You know that we
+whirl around the atoms of matter at prodigious speeds, and that
+according to the number of revolutions we make per second, we produce
+waves of corresponding frequencies.
+
+In an earlier chapter I have hinted that the speed of the revolving
+electron is determined by the kind of atom to which it acts as a
+satellite. For instance, when electrons revolve around iron atoms they
+produce certain wave-lengths, while those moving around hydrogen atoms
+produce an entirely different series of waves. But how is man to
+recognise these?
+
+It is quite evident that man may gaze at a distant star and be little
+the wiser concerning the different lengths of the waves which impinge
+upon his eyes. He may observe that the sensation is inclined to red,
+from which he may infer that the waves are long ones--that they are
+farther apart than some of the waves produced by a white-hot body. But
+had man been content to try and decipher our wireless messages in this
+rough-and-ready manner, he would never have gained the interesting
+information which we have now placed in his hands. How, then, did we
+enable man to read our messages?
+
+Our plan may seem to be somewhat mysterious, but I assure you that it is
+really very simple. When these aether waves of light fall upon a
+triangular prism of glass, the waves are bent out of their normally
+straight path. But the point that may seem strange to you, is that those
+waves which produce the sensation of red are not bent so much as the
+others. The more rapidly the waves follow one another, the greater is
+the bending of such a ray from its original direction. In this way the
+various wave-lengths are all spread out, so that they form an image like
+a coloured ribbon, red at one end, being followed by orange, yellow,
+green, blue, and violet. Every man must be familiar with this coloured
+spectrum. When some of my fellows are enclosed in drops of water in the
+air they produce a great rainbow spectrum across the heavens. But I
+must tell you how we electrons succeed in bending these rays of light.
+
+I have told you already how we either absorb or reflect the aether waves
+which happen to fall upon us. In most substances it is only those
+electrons very near the surface that are disturbed. They succeed in
+stopping the waves. They may do this in either of two different ways. If
+the satellite electrons are attracted strongly by their atoms, the
+electrons will spin around the atoms keeping time to the movements of
+the incoming waves, and in this way the electrons take up the energy of
+the waves. In doing this, the electrons send out fresh waves in the
+aether. This is the real explanation of what man calls _reflection_ of
+light.
+
+[Illustration: THE SPECTROSCOPE AND THE ELECTRONS' WIRELESS MESSAGES
+
+The spectroscope is seen in the extreme left of No. 1 photograph. The
+instrument is explained at page 207.
+
+The operator is passing an electric current through a glass tube
+containing a rarefied gas, causing the gas to become luminous. When he
+examines its light through the spectroscope he sees bright lines as
+shown in photograph No. 2, and from the position of these lines he can
+tell what substance is producing the light. No. 2 is the spectrum of
+mercury vapour. No. 3 is part of the spectrum of the sun. Note the dark
+lines, as explained in the text.]
+
+In the second case, the electrons are not so firmly attached to their
+atoms, so that the incoming waves dislodge them, and they are knocked
+about from atom to atom, and in this way the energy of the waves is
+frittered away. Man speaks of the light having been _absorbed_ by the
+substance upon which it fell. In both cases the only electrons which
+take part in these actions are those electrons who can move in
+sympathy with the incoming waves.
+
+It will be clear to you that only those of us who are near the surface
+of a substance know anything about these incoming waves. The electrons
+attached to atoms in the interior of the substance are left in peace,
+owing to the defensive actions of our fellows on the outside. But this
+is not the case with all substances. There are some congregations of
+atoms through which the aether waves can make their way. Man calls such
+materials _transparent_; for example, glass and water are transparent
+substances. The fact of the matter is that in such substances none of us
+are able to respond to the incoming waves, and so we cannot stop them. I
+should say almost none of us, for there are always a few electrons
+present who happen to be in sympathy with the incoming waves. That is
+why no substance is perfectly transparent.
+
+The point concerning which I wish to speak in particular is this.
+Although we allow the aether waves to pass through such substances, we do
+offer some slight resistance to the passage of the waves; the faster the
+to-and-fro motion of the waves, the more resistance do we offer. That
+is why the waves of highest frequency are bent farthest from the
+straight line when passed through a glass prism. We actually force the
+aether waves to travel slower through a piece of glass than through the
+air.
+
+Now there should be no mystery concerning our action in a triangular
+piece of glass. Whatever combination of aether waves falls upon it, the
+different trains of waves are sorted out according to their frequencies.
+Suppose, for instance, that aether waves emitted from some incandescent
+sodium are passed through a glass prism. The bulk of the electrons
+attached to the sodium atoms are capable of revolving at speeds which
+produce waves causing the sensation of yellow. Hence there will appear a
+very distinct line of yellow light in the spectrum. But why should the
+light be in the form of a line? Simply because our aether waves are
+passed through a narrow slit in a shutter. But I need not trouble you
+with further details of our actions, which, although very simple to us,
+may seem somewhat strange to you.
+
+You will understand, however, that we form bright lines in different
+parts of the spectrum, according to the kinds of atoms to which we are
+attached. It was this fact which attracted man's attention to our
+wireless messages. He soon discovered the meaning of these lines, for he
+commenced to take exact notes of the different positions in which we
+placed these lines. He saw that when we were attached to hydrogen atoms
+we always produced three prominent lines; a very distinct line in the
+red section, another in the blue part, and a third one somewhat fainter
+and farther along in the blue. On the other hand, when attached to
+sodium atoms, we produced two very distinct lines in the yellow. When
+attached to iron atoms we produced a great variety of lines in the
+spectrum. Of course these substances have to be incandescent to enable
+us to produce the aether waves.
+
+Now it will be clear to you how we send wireless messages from the
+distant stars. These stars are great masses of flaming gases, so that
+the satellite electrons are kept busy dancing attendance to excited
+atoms. The electrons are constantly sending out aether waves, which reach
+this planet. We sort out these waves when man passes them through a
+glass prism, mounted in a telescope arrangement which he calls a
+_spectroscope_. He then examines the positions of the lines we produce
+in the resulting spectrum, and from these he knows what kinds of atoms
+are present in the distant star. It is we who have informed man that
+there are forty different materials in the sun, the most common of which
+are hydrogen, sodium, iron, copper, nickel, and zinc. Of course these
+all exist in a gaseous form.
+
+There is one point about which I need hardly trouble you, although it is
+worth mentioning in passing. While we produce bright lines in the
+spectrum of any incandescent substance on this planet, our messages from
+the stars appear as dark lines. The reason for this is that there are
+cooler masses of the gases surrounding the incandescent masses forming
+the stars, and these cooler gases completely absorb the waves we
+produce. So completely are these waves absorbed that blank spaces are
+left in the spectrum, and these are the dark lines to which I refer. As
+they are in the same positions that the bright lines would have occupied
+had the waves reached the earth, it makes no difference to the reading
+of our messages.
+
+Curiously enough, some of our actions in forming lines in the spectrum
+led to our actual discovery by man; but I shall tell you of this in the
+following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOW MAN PROVED OUR EXISTENCE
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER SIXTEEN_
+
+    Several men of note declared that "little particles" revolved
+    around the atoms of matter, and that it was the motion of these
+    particles which produced the well-known aether waves of light.
+
+    This idea was suggested by the result of certain mathematical
+    calculations.
+
+    It was some time before real experimental proof was obtained.
+
+    The electron tells its own tale of this great discovery.
+
+    When the electron speaks of a spectrum line being shifted up or
+    down the scale, it means towards the violet or the red end
+    respectively.
+
+    We may picture the spectrum as analogous to the keyboard of a
+    piano.
+
+    In the second part of this chapter, the electron explains how it
+    has enabled man to discover that certain stars are approaching
+    the earth, while others are receding from it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+HOW MAN PROVED OUR EXISTENCE
+
+
+We electrons had waited long ages for man to acknowledge our services,
+but we did not despise the acknowledgment which a few men accorded us
+upon the basis of their mathematical calculations. It was natural,
+however, that we should want something more definite than this.
+
+You can imagine our joy when real experimental proof of our existence
+was established. Perhaps you think that we should have been satisfied
+with this. But even this did not bring acknowledgment from many outside
+scientific circles, and not even from all within those circles. As our
+services to man are universal, we feel that all men should become
+acquainted with our doings. Indeed that was the chief argument used by
+my fellow-electrons, who urged me to write this autobiography. The
+story of our actual discovery by man is an interesting one.
+
+It all came about in a very simple manner, but in quite a different way
+from what most electrons expected. Man reasoned within himself that if
+we electrons really did revolve around atoms and thus produce waves in
+the aether, as had been suggested, he ought to be able to affect our
+movements by disturbing the aether in which we were revolving. Of course
+man cannot disturb the aether directly; he must employ some of us to do
+this for him. He caused us to produce a very powerful magnetic field,
+which, as you know, is a disturbance of the aether. Man did not bother
+thinking about _us_ in this connection; he simply sent an electric
+current around an electro-magnet, but I have explained to you the very
+active part we play in electric and magnetic actions.
+
+From my story in the preceding chapter, you are aware that man had
+observed the meaning of the bright lines in the spectrum of any
+incandescent body. When he examined the aether waves we send out from
+sodium atoms, he found two very distinct lines in the yellow. Because of
+the brightness of these lines, man selected a sodium flame to
+experiment with in the present case.
+
+You will picture a great host of my fellow-electrons revolving around
+the atoms in a sodium flame. The flame was placed between the poles of a
+very powerful electro-magnet, and a beam of aether waves (light) produced
+by us was directed into the spectroscope. The experimenter focussed all
+his attention upon one of the bright yellow lines. He noted very
+carefully the exact position in which we placed it. He then produced the
+magnetic field around the flame, in which my fellow-electrons were
+revolving at a steady pace, and, behold, the line which he was watching
+split up into two lines, one taking up a position a little higher up the
+spectrum scale, and the other going a little lower down towards the red
+end. What could this mean?
+
+Man had no difficulty in knowing the cause of this alteration; indeed,
+it was exactly what he had hoped would take place. Of the two new lines,
+one represented waves a little shorter, while the other line indicated
+waves a little longer or farther apart, than the original waves forming
+the single line. This could only come about by some of the electrons
+having had their rate of revolution increased, while that of others had
+been reduced. These alterations were due to the aether disturbance (the
+magnetic field). Those electrons whose orbits happened to lie in one
+position had their rate of revolution increased, while those whose
+orbits lay in another position had their speed reduced. Man was
+convinced at last that we "particles" were real existing things.
+
+Whenever man withdrew the aether disturbance, the electrons fell back
+into their natural rate of revolution, and the original single line
+appeared in the spectrum.
+
+I took no part in the original experiment which gave absolute proof of
+our existence, but since then I have been present in a laboratory when
+the same experiment has been repeated.
+
+
+This is not the only case in which we alter the positions of definite
+lines in the spectrum. Indeed, we have given man some interesting
+information about the motions of distant stars--information which he
+could not have obtained in any other way. We have sent wireless messages
+from distant stars, indicating that they were approaching the earth,
+while electrons aboard other stars have signalled that they are receding
+from the earth. All this may seem mysterious to you, and yet our actions
+in the matter are very simple. Indeed, we do nothing but what I have
+told you of in the preceding chapters. We send out definite wave-lengths
+in the manner described already. But if we are on board a star which is
+travelling towards the earth, our waves will naturally follow a little
+closer at each other's heels. On the other hand, if the star is receding
+from the earth, the waves must be a little farther apart than they would
+be if the star were at rest.
+
+You will understand that the electrons are revolving at the same speeds
+in both cases, but the forward movement of the star crowds the waves
+together, while a receding star stretches them out a little farther
+apart. The result at the receiving end is that the crowded waves are
+just as though they had come from electrons revolving at a greater speed
+than is actually the case. Hence the line appears farther along the
+spectrum, up the scale of frequencies, than would have been the case
+had the star not been moving forward in the line of sight. Thus if the
+hydrogen lines, of which I have spoken elsewhere, should appear higher
+up the spectrum than usual, then man knows that the star from which
+these waves are coming is approaching the earth.
+
+It will be evident that when known lines in the spectrum are shifted
+down the scale (towards the red end of the spectrum), then the rate of
+the waves has been decreased, and man knows that the star carrying these
+stimulating electrons is receding from him.
+
+You will observe that we electrons perform no new duty in connection
+with this matter; it is entirely the motion of the body carrying us that
+alters the positions of the lines. But I must hasten on to tell you of
+some personal experiences.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MY X-RAY EXPERIENCES
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER SEVENTEEN_
+
+    The present generation were all very much interested in the
+    discovery of X-rays.
+
+    With the aid of a battery and an induction coil, man causes an
+    energetic electrical discharge to pass through a vacuum tube.
+
+    When the flying electrons strike upon a little metal target
+    placed in their path, they produce the well-known Roentgen rays.
+
+    We have all become familiar with the great penetrating powers of
+    these rays.
+
+    The electron may be left to tell its own story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+MY X-RAY EXPERIENCES
+
+
+It was no surprise to us that we could produce what man calls X-rays,
+but we were very much surprised at the use to which man put these
+splashes which we made in the aether. A limited number of us had been
+producing X-rays on our own account for many ages, but I shall tell you
+of that in a later chapter, when you will hear how we made the world
+talk.
+
+I must tell you of my own experiences in connection with these X-rays,
+which I hear some men describe also as _Roentgen rays_. I found myself
+once more within a large vacuum tube, and as soon as I felt a crowd of
+my fellows pushing me forward, I was quite prepared to be shot across
+the tube, as on previous occasions. Personally, I was not prepared for
+what was to come. Just as we reached the centre of the tube we collided
+with a metal plate or target. It was no joke to be pulled up so suddenly
+when travelling at a terrific speed. I noticed at the time that our very
+sudden stoppage had a peculiar effect upon the aether. Of course we never
+bothered about a name for this disturbance; it is man who requires to
+have names for everything. He was quite right to call this aether
+disturbance "X-rays," for even now he does not know the real nature of
+these. I have heard him describe them as thin pulses in the aether, but
+there is something more.
+
+I may as well confess that although we observed this aether disturbance
+arising from our sudden stoppage, we paid little attention to it, until
+it became apparent that man was continuing to produce these rays for
+some special purpose. He had discovered that we could shoot these rays
+right through many solid substances which were not transparent to light.
+But I have not told you how man came to know that we could produce these
+penetrating rays.
+
+On one occasion we were sending out these rays, which, by the way, do
+not cause any sensation in man's visionary apparatus. The room was in
+darkness. Some of the invisible rays fell upon a collection of small
+chemical crystals which were fixed on the surface of a screen. Our
+fellow-electrons, who were attached to the atoms of the crystals, were
+bestirred into action. They could not reflect the X-rays, but they set
+up regular trains of waves in the aether, some of which came within the
+range that affects man's vision. Man knew that this chemical screen
+could not produce light on its own account, and it became apparent that
+the vacuum tube must be sending some aether waves towards the chemical
+screen.
+
+As the electrons on the screen produced an aether disturbance different
+from that which fell upon it, man called this a _fluorescent screen_.
+
+At first we took merely a passing interest in the experiments which man
+made with these X-rays of ours, for it seemed to us as though man
+thought them only good enough for amusing his friends. Indeed, we paid
+little heed to what he was doing, until we observed that the rays were
+being used by surgeons. We were interested at once, for here we could
+serve man.
+
+My first experience in this connection was quite interesting. A young
+girl had got a needle into her hand while she was playing about, and the
+surgeons were at a loss to know where the needle had lodged. We lost no
+time in producing X-rays which could penetrate the flesh of the hand,
+and reach the fluorescent screen on the other side. The bones of the
+hand blocked the way of our rays, but not so completely as the needle
+did. Hence we produced upon the screen a faint shadow of the flesh of
+the hand, a much deeper image of the bones, and a black shadow of the
+needle. This enabled the surgeon to see where the needle was hiding.
+
+Sometimes we were called upon to produce rays for detecting bullets in
+the flesh, or for showing the nature of a fractured bone. We were never
+surprised to find that our call was to detect a coin in the throat of a
+child, but in this connection a big surprise awaited some of us. I was
+not one of the party, but I have the information from some
+fellow-electrons.
+
+[Illustration: HOW ELECTRONS PRODUCE X-RAY IMAGES
+
+The upper photograph shows the X-ray apparatus in use. The operator is
+examining the bones of the lady's hand, which she places between the
+X-ray tube and the fluorescent screen. The rays pass through the flesh,
+but are obstructed by the bones, the rings, and the bangle, so that a
+shadowgraph or image is formed upon the screen, which becomes luminous
+where the rays succeed in reaching it. The actual examination is made in
+a dark room. Owing to the way X-ray photos are taken (by contact) the
+image is reversed in a photograph, so that a left looks like a right
+hand.]
+
+A party of electrons were present within an X-ray tube at a large
+hospital, when they were called upon to produce rays for examining
+the throat of a little girl. They had become so used to this call that
+they did not doubt there would be a coin in the child's throat. However,
+they lost no time in producing the penetrating rays, and you can imagine
+their surprise when they produced the image of a toy bicycle upon the
+screen. It seemed ridiculous that such a toy could have entered a
+child's throat.
+
+When we had shown the surgeons exactly where the toy was, they set to
+work to remove it. The electrons heard later that the operation was
+successful in every way. Every one was interested, and we were proud. I
+do not wish to appear boastful, but I wonder how many operations owe
+their success to these rays which we produce for man.
+
+It was natural that man should try if these searching rays could affect
+the chemicals upon a photographic plate, and we soon proved that they
+could. It made no difference to us whether man kept the plate sealed up
+in its light-proof envelope, or whether he placed the plate within a
+wooden box. These protecting covers offered no barrier to our rays. We
+produced shadowgraphs of any objects placed between our tube and the
+photographic plate.
+
+Two of my early experiences may be of interest to you. The first of
+these seemed to me a rather tame affair. Our X-ray tube appeared to be
+arranged for the amusement of fashionable folk. One grand lady placed
+her hand behind the fluorescent screen, whereupon we produced an image
+of the bones of her hand and very dark images of all the many rings upon
+her fingers. Several of the rings had enormous diamonds, but it was
+after she had gone away that I overheard two gentlemen speaking about
+the rings. One asked the other if he had observed the beautiful
+diamonds, whereupon the other roared with laughter. It seems that we
+proved them to be imitation diamonds, for our rays could not penetrate
+them, whereas they have no difficulty in passing through real diamonds.
+We therefore produced black shadows of the imitation diamonds. Little
+did the grand lady know how we had exposed her sham jewels.
+
+My second experience was a very curious one. I learned that our tube was
+being carried to some distance. After a while we were placed beside a
+peculiar-looking object, which the men referred to as the "mummy." One
+of the men suggested that they should photograph its feet, but before
+doing so they darkened the room and set us to work upon the fluorescent
+screen. The owner of the mummy got rather nervous as to what we might
+disclose, and as the force urging us into action was somewhat erratic at
+first, we produced only a very indistinct image. We were greatly amused
+at the nervous excitement of the owner; he seemed to think our verdict
+was that there were no bones. However, the man with the apparatus soon
+got things into better condition, and this enabled us to produce X-rays
+satisfactorily. The result was that they secured some excellent
+photographs of the hidden bones of the mummy.
+
+Before telling you how we made the world talk, I should like to give you
+a clear idea of our relationship to the atoms of matter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE ATOMS
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER EIGHTEEN_
+
+    We have no doubt that an atom of matter is a miniature solar
+    system of revolving electrons.
+
+    These electrons, being negative particles of electricity, would
+    repel each other just as any two similarly electrified bodies
+    do.
+
+    There must therefore be some equivalent of positive electricity,
+    but whether this exists in the form of a sphere or in separate
+    particles we have no definite knowledge.
+
+    One atom differs from another in the number of electrons which
+    go to make up the atom.
+
+    The electron explains how the atoms of matter are united to one
+    another, how different compound substances are formed, and how
+    chemical changes take place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+OUR RELATIONSHIP TO THE ATOMS
+
+
+I am sorry that this part of my story must remain incomplete for the
+present. I am not free to tell you all I know; you must try and get
+behind the scenes on your own account.
+
+One thing I am at liberty to tell you is that my fellow-electrons who
+are locked up within the atoms are not without hope that they may gain
+their freedom once more at some future time. I know this first-hand, for
+I have met some fellow-electrons who have escaped from within an atom,
+but I shall delay telling you about these fellows till the succeeding
+chapter. My object in mentioning this fact now is to give you confidence
+in what I am about to say regarding the nature of the atom.
+
+On one occasion I overheard a conversation between two men who were
+discussing the construction of matter. One remarked that the atoms were
+the bricks of the universe, whereupon the other asked how the little
+bricks were cemented together. I wish that man could have seen a lump of
+matter as we see it. He would have been surprised to learn that the
+atoms never really touch each other. They are always surging to and fro,
+or _vibrating_, and it is this motion which constitutes the
+_temperature_ of the body which they compose.
+
+It must be clear, however, that in a solid body one atom attracts
+another atom across the intervening atomic spaces. This is another duty
+devolving upon us; what we do, really, is to upset the electric balance
+between the different atoms, and thus produce electrical attraction.
+
+First of all, perhaps, I should explain that the different kinds of
+atoms are simply congregations of different numbers of electrons. Of
+course there is the other part, of which I am forbidden to speak--the
+part which man vaguely describes as _positive electricity_. However, you
+may take it from me that while it is true that the main difference
+between an atom of gold and an atom of iron, or of oxygen, is in the
+number of electrons it contains, there is a very important difference in
+the arrangement of the electrons. You know that they form rings outside
+one another, all of which revolve at enormous speeds. The number of
+electrons in the different rings varies according to the kind of atom.
+
+It is quite correct for man to speak of the atoms containing certain
+definite numbers of electrons, but I should like you to understand
+clearly that the exact number of electrons is not permanently fixed; one
+or more electrons can slip off one atom and become attached to a
+neighbouring atom which happens to be capable of accepting it or them.
+It is the interchange of these few detachable electrons that causes one
+atom to attract another. In other words, it is the differently charged
+atoms which attract each other, just as man crowds a surplus of
+electrons on to one object and finds it attracted bodily towards another
+object having a deficiency of electrons.
+
+It is this electrical attraction between the atoms which enables us to
+build up the particles, or _molecules_, of matter in such a variety of
+forms. First of all, we play the most important part within the atoms.
+We have formed only a limited number of such atoms. I am not free to
+tell you exactly how many, for man has discovered only about eighty of
+these different congregations of electrons, each kind of which he calls
+an _element_. The way in which we have coupled these different
+elementary atoms together must appear remarkable to all thinking men;
+there seems to be no end to the possible variety of combinations.
+
+In one case we unite an atom of _chlorine_ to an atom of _sodium_ and
+thereby produce a molecule of common salt. In another case we unite an
+atom of _oxygen_ to two atoms of _hydrogen_, and the resulting
+combination is an invisible molecule of ordinary water.
+
+It has always seemed to me very strange how some men have difficulty in
+regard to these combinations. I have heard a man ask how two different
+gases, hydrogen and oxygen, when united, should form a liquid, and not a
+gas. I wish you could see things as we see them. The atoms are neither
+gaseous, liquid, nor solid; they are little worlds of revolving
+electrons.
+
+I have spoken of the attraction between atoms, and again between
+molecules, in forming a solid body. It will be clear that there is less
+of this _cohesive force_ in the case of a liquid, whereas it is absent
+entirely in the case of a gas. In this case the molecules have become so
+far separated from one another that they cease to attract each other,
+and if left free they will soon part company, and spread themselves
+broadcast over the face of the earth.
+
+Whether a substance passes into a solid, a liquid, or a gaseous state,
+the atoms remain constant, but their vibratory motion is altered very
+considerably. However, I was about to tell you that we electrons can
+make some very interesting combinations of atoms. Those I have mentioned
+so far are of a very simple nature, but we have built up individual
+molecules containing hundreds of atoms. We link about a hundred atoms
+together and produce a molecule of what man calls _alum_, and we require
+to unite about a thousand atoms together to make one molecule of
+_albumen_ (the white of an egg).
+
+
+When man speaks of a chemical change having taken place in a substance,
+it is simply the electrons who have made a friendly interchange of
+detachable electrons, thereby causing a different assemblage of the same
+atoms. During these changes we never alter the nature of the atom. That
+little world of revolving electrons known as an atom of gold, remains
+always an atom of gold. But you must not run away with the idea that the
+atoms will never change. Indeed, man has discovered that the atoms are
+not eternal, as I shall explain in the following chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+HOW WE MADE THE WORLD TALK
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER NINETEEN_
+
+    The discovery of radium is within the memory of all.
+
+    Many exaggerated statements went abroad at the outset, but the
+    real facts are full of interest, and they have shed much new
+    light on many subjects.
+
+    Three different kinds of radiation were found to be emitted by
+    radium.
+
+    At first man could not tell what these were, so he named them
+    after the first three letters of the Greek alphabet--Alpha,
+    Beta, and Gamma, rays.
+
+    The electron tells the interesting story of these rays, and
+    relates the experiences of some fellow-electrons who escaped
+    from within a radium atom.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+HOW WE MADE THE WORLD TALK
+
+
+We electrons were amused at the stir which we unconsciously caused
+throughout the civilised world. We had done nothing different from what
+we had been doing for ages, but a few men had been taking note of what
+we were about, and when the phenomena to which I refer became known to
+the world, many wild rumours were circulated.
+
+One of these rumours was to the effect that steam-engines and their
+expensive furnaces were to disappear very quickly. If the two last words
+had been omitted--I should not say that the prophecy is untrue, but man
+has a long way to travel yet before reaching that goal. My fellows
+within the atoms have sufficient energy to supply all mankind with power
+if he could but unlock even a small fraction of it.
+
+Another statement was that this newly discovered substance, _radium_,
+could cure some diseases which man had believed to be incurable. All I
+shall say about this is that the statement was an exaggerated one.
+
+Then it was said that radium disproved much of man's scientific
+knowledge, but instead of that being so, we electrons have greatly
+extended man's knowledge by our radio-active actions. If any man
+believed the atoms of matter to be eternal, we certainly disproved that.
+Here, in radium, man could see atoms going to pieces.
+
+I have questioned a fellow-electron who escaped from a radium atom as to
+what upset their equilibrium, but I find that he does not know, or he
+pretends not to know. All he has told me is that he was flung off
+suddenly from within the atom with great energy, for he had been
+revolving at a tremendous speed. In his sudden flight he passed some
+newly formed _helium_ atoms, which contained many of those electrons who
+had been his co-partners in the former radium atom. Being an electron,
+he was travelling at a far greater speed than these flying atoms of
+matter, but he assures me that these helium atoms were going faster
+than atoms can travel under any other circumstances.
+
+Another thing that this escaped electron told me was that when he and
+his fellow-electrons made a sudden start on leaving the atom of radium
+they caused a proper splash in the surrounding aether, just such as we
+electrons produce when we are suddenly stopped in an X-ray tube. Man
+observed these rays proceeding from radium, but, not knowing the cause
+of them, he called them _gamma rays_. We can, of course, produce
+radiographs when these rays fall upon photographic plates. Indeed, some
+of my fellow-electrons, when escaping from radium, have produced rays
+sufficient to penetrate a six-inch boulder and affect a photographic
+plate lying beneath the boulder. In time man recognised these rays as
+X-rays.
+
+Man did not find only these rays--he discovered that electrons were
+escaping, but before he had recognised what we were, he had named us
+_beta rays_. These fast-flying electrons have had experiences which
+never fall to electrons except when escaping from an atom. Their
+velocity is so great that they can be shot right through a sheet of
+aluminium foil. If these escaped electrons are allowed to settle on any
+object, they will necessarily cause an overcrowding, or, in other words,
+the object will become negatively electrified.
+
+The one thing that puzzled man most was to find out what the helium
+atoms were. He had named them _alpha_ rays, but as he found he could not
+get them to penetrate even a thin sheet of paper, he was confident that
+they must be atoms of matter. It was only when he had gathered
+sufficient to examine the spectrum that he found these to be helium
+atoms.
+
+I think what really made the world talk was the fact that electrons were
+escaping from what had been supposed to be an eternal habitation. In
+other words, this material radium was actually going to pieces. That is
+to say, _gradually_, as far as man is concerned, for, looking at it from
+our point of view, the word _gradual_ seems out of place entirely. The
+breaking up of an atom is really of the nature of an explosion. It is a
+continual bombardment that is proceeding in radium. Why man is apt to
+think of it as a gradual effect is that there is such an enormous
+number of atoms in a tiny speck of radium, that even the incessant
+series of explosions will take a very long time to break down the whole
+of the small particle.
+
+Electrons differ in their opinions as to whether man will succeed in
+drawing upon this internal energy of the atom. My own difficulty is
+that, having been a roaming electron at all times, I have no idea
+regarding the cause of the atomic explosions. I have remarked already
+that the electrons locked up within the atoms possess more energy than
+man could ever use. If all these electrons were deprived of their
+energy, the atoms of matter would cease to exist, and man, where would
+he be?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON CHAPTER TWENTY_
+
+    Not many of us have realised the true importance of electrons in
+    the Creator's plans.
+
+    In the following short chapter the electron is made to sum up a
+    few of the wonders which it has related, in order to focus our
+    attention upon the grand place which the electrons occupy in the
+    universe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+CONCLUSION
+
+
+From what I have told you of myself and my fellow-electrons, it must be
+apparent that we are of tremendous importance to man. I have told you
+something of the part we played in building up this world--how we not
+only form the atoms of matter, but also hold these bricks of the
+universe together. I have given you a rough sketch of the composition of
+these bricks.
+
+You must have realised also that without us the whole universe would be
+in darkness. There would be no light, no heat, and consequently no life.
+Indeed, there could be no material existence without us.
+
+Where would man be if we failed to perform our mission? He could not
+exist if we even neglected a few of our duties. Not only do we form the
+atoms of which his body is composed, also holding these together, but
+we produce all those chemical changes within his body which are
+absolutely necessary to maintain life. His very thoughts are dependent
+upon our activities.
+
+I have told you how we send man's messages across the earth, and how we
+transmit power from place to place. Also how we have enabled man to gain
+knowledge of the distant stars, and to examine the bones of his living
+body.
+
+
+If man could cross-examine me or any of my fellows, I expect the first
+question would be--What are you electrons made of? But man must find
+this out for himself. The Creator has placed man in a world full of
+activity, and it is of intense interest to man to discover the meaning
+of all that lies around him. That is why I have been bound over by my
+fellows to tell you only so much of our history as man has discovered.
+But I am disclosing no secret when I admit that our very existence as
+electrons is dependent upon the aether.
+
+
+If I can find another scribe to write a revised biography for me a few
+hundred years hence, I shall have a much more interesting tale to tell,
+for many of our doings, of which man knows nothing at present, will be
+secrets no longer by that time.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+    _THE SCRIBE'S NOTE ON APPENDIX_
+
+    As explained by the author in Chapter I., this appendix has been
+    added for the sake of those readers who may wish further details
+    than have been given in the electron's story.
+
+    It is only necessary to give a brief notice of the more
+    important particulars, as the author has written recently upon
+    this subject in a popular form.[1]
+
+[Footnote 1: "Scientific Ideas of To-day." By Chas. R. Gibson, F.R.S.E.
+(London: Seeley & Co., Ltd. Five shillings net.)]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX
+
+
+It was known two thousand years ago that when a piece of amber was
+rubbed with a woollen cloth, the amber would attract light objects
+towards it. Amber was considered to be unique in this respect.
+
+
+About the year 1600, one of Queen Elizabeth's physicians, Dr. William
+Gilbert, inquired into this attractive property of amber. He found that
+many other substances possessed the same property. Indeed it is common
+to all substances in some degree. We say the amber or other object is
+"electrified."
+
+
+It was observed by the early experimenters that there were two kinds of
+electrification. To one of these they gave the name _positive
+electricity_, and to the other _negative electricity_.
+
+
+Every electrified object will attract an object which is not
+electrified, and two objects which are oppositely electrified will
+attract one another also. But two objects which are similarly
+electrified will repel each other.
+
+
+Man got tired of rubbing objects by hand, so he fitted up simple
+machines in which glass cylinders or plates were rubbed against leather
+cushions. The electricity was then collected by little metal points
+supported on an insulated metal sphere.
+
+
+The experiment of attempting to store electricity in a glass vessel
+filled with water was made at the University of Leyden (Netherlands).
+The water was replaced later by a coating of tin-foil on the inner
+surface, while a similar metallic coating on the outside took the place
+of the experimenter's hand. These jars are called _Leyden jars_, after
+the place in which the discovery was made.
+
+
+About 1790, Professor Galvani, of Italy, observed that the legs of a
+freshly killed frog twitched at each discharge of an electrical machine.
+Later he found that the same twitching occurred when he connected
+certain parts with a piece of copper and zinc. He believed this to be
+due to "animal electricity" secreted within the frog.
+
+
+Professor Volta, also of Italy, proved that Galvani's idea was wrong,
+and that the electricity resided in the metals rather than in the frog.
+He showed that when two pieces of dissimilar metal were put in contact
+with one another, there was a slight transference of electricity between
+them. He constructed a pile of copper and zinc discs, with a moist cloth
+between each pair or couple, and by connecting wires from the top copper
+disc to the lowest zinc disc he was able to show that an appreciable
+current of electricity was produced. Later he placed a piece of copper
+and a piece of zinc in a vessel containing acidulated water, whereupon
+he found that a steady current of electricity was obtained. This was the
+invention of electric batteries.
+
+
+The phenomena of _magnetism_ were known to the ancients, but it was not
+until the nineteenth century that we found any real connection between
+electricity and magnetism. In 1819, a Danish philosopher, Hans
+Christian Oersted, discovered that an electric current passing in a wire
+affected a magnet in its neighbourhood. If the magnet was supported on a
+pivot, after the manner of a compass needle, it would turn round and
+take up a position at right angles to the wire carrying the electric
+current.
+
+
+The molecular theory of magnetism presumes that every molecule of iron
+is a tiny magnet, having a north and south pole. In a piece of
+unmagnetised iron, these tiny magnets are all lying so that they
+neutralise one another. When they are turned round so that their north
+poles are all lying in one direction, then the iron is said to be
+magnetised.
+
+
+The electron theory of magnetism does not do away with the older
+molecular theory just referred to. The electron theory goes a step
+farther, and tells us that these molecules are magnets because of a
+steady motion of electrons around the atoms of iron.
+
+
+It was discovered in 1825 that when an electric current was sent through
+an insulated wire wound around a piece of soft iron, the iron became a
+magnet; when the current was stopped the magnetism disappeared. Such
+magnets are called _electro-magnets_. If a piece of hard steel is
+treated in the same way it becomes a _permanent magnet_. It was this
+intimate connection between electricity and magnetism, or, in other
+words, the invention of these electro-magnets, which brought us electric
+bells, telegraphs, telephones, dynamos, and electric motors.
+
+
+It should be noted that while iron is attracted by either pole of a
+magnet, there is such a thing as magnetic repulsion. This, however,
+takes place only between two magnets, and then only between like poles.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Some German physicists made a number of electrical experiments with
+vacuum tubes. When Sir William Crookes (England) was experimenting with
+similar vacuum tubes he suggested that matter was in a "radiant" state
+during the electric discharge within the tubes.
+
+
+In 1880, H. A. Lorentz, of Amsterdam, declared that light was due to the
+motion of small particles revolving around the atoms of matter.
+
+
+Professor Zeeman, of Holland, produced experimental proof of Lorentz's
+theory. He showed that the revolving "particles" were influenced by a
+powerful magnetic field, in the manner explained in the electron's
+story. This discovery was made in 1896, or sixteen years after Lorentz's
+declaration. It was Dr. Johnstone Stoney, of Dublin University
+(Ireland), who christened these particles "electrons."
+
+
+The X-rays were observed for the first time by Professor Roentgen, of
+Germany, in 1895. The screens used for viewing the luminous effects
+produced by the X-rays are coated with very fine crystals of _barium
+platinocyanide_. These screens were in use for another purpose previous
+to the discovery of X-rays.
+
+
+We know now that _chemical affinity_ is merely electrical attraction
+between the atoms of matter.
+
+
+The spectroscope consists of a glass prism, or series of prisms, mounted
+between two metal tubes. One tube is provided at one end with a vertical
+slit, through which the light that is to be examined is passed. At the
+other end of the tube is a lens, so that the beam of light from the slit
+emerges through the lens as a pencil of parallel rays. The pencil of
+light then falls upon the glass prism, striking it at an angle. In
+passing through the prism, the light is bent round so that it enters the
+second tube, which is simply a small telescope. The prism separates the
+aether waves according to their wave-lengths, and produces the well-known
+coloured spectrum, which is magnified by the telescope. The reason for
+the bending of the different waves is explained in the electron's
+story.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+
+Absorption of light, 148
+
+Aether, the, 24
+
+Aether waves, 96, 131, 133, 137, 146, 148, 163
+
+Alpha rays from radium, 190
+
+Alternating electric current, 121
+
+Amber electrified, 32, 34 to 37, 201
+
+Artificial light, 140, 142
+
+Atoms breaking up, 188, 190
+
+Atoms co-operating with electrons, 108, 123
+
+Atom's internal energy, 187, 191
+
+Atoms of matter, 52, 54, 78, 128, 180, 184
+
+Attraction between atoms, 180
+
+Attraction, electrical, 35, 202
+
+Attraction, magnetic, 78, 205
+
+Aurora, 132
+
+Automatic telegraph transmitter, 91
+
+
+Battery, electric, 70, 203
+
+Beginning of the world, 53
+
+Beta rays from radium, 189
+
+Birth of the moon, 52, 54
+
+Bricks of the universe, 180, 195
+
+
+Chemical affinity, 206
+
+Chemical combinations, 56, 182
+
+Chemistry of the stars, 52, 55, 144, 153
+
+Chlorine atoms, 56, 182
+
+Cloud formation, 56
+
+Circuit, earth, 72
+
+Coherer, tube, 98
+
+Cohesive force, 183
+
+Colour, 136
+
+Compass needle, 77
+
+Complete electric circuit, 71
+
+Conductors, 37, 68
+
+Connecting link between aether and matter, 118, 127
+
+Corpuscles, 66
+
+Crookes, Sir William, 205
+
+Current of electricity, 68
+
+
+Dark lines in spectrum, 154
+
+Detachable electrons, 78, 181
+
+Detecting imitation diamonds, 174
+
+Direct electric current, 121
+
+Discharge of electricity, 42
+
+Discharge through a vacuum, 60
+
+Discovery of electrons, 160, 206
+
+Discovery of X-rays, 169
+
+Dynamo, 116, 118
+
+
+Earth circuit, 72
+
+Electrical discharge, 42
+
+Electricity, positive, 23, 32, 39, 52, 180
+
+Electricity, negative, 23, 32, 39
+
+Electric battery, 70
+
+Electric current, 68, 70
+
+Electric motor, 116, 122
+
+Electric shock, 47
+
+Electrified objects, 37, 38, 201
+
+Electro-magnets, 76, 81, 83, 118, 205
+
+Electrodes, 61
+
+Electrocution, 49
+
+Electron as a go-between, 118
+
+Electron, derivation of the word, 23
+
+Electron, discovery of, 160, 206
+
+Electrons, 25, 32, 66, 78, 138, 162, 195
+
+Energy transmission through the aether, 73, 121
+
+Energy within the atom, 187, 191
+
+
+Field, magnetic, 68, 76, 118
+
+Fluorescent screen, 169, 206
+
+
+Galvani's discovery, 202
+
+Gamma rays from radium, 189
+
+Gilbert's discovery, 201
+
+Glass, electrified, 37, 38
+
+Glass prism, 147, 152
+
+Glow-lamp, electric, 140, 141
+
+Glow-worm, 142
+
+
+Heat, radiant, 126, 131, 133, 142
+
+Helium atoms, 188, 190
+
+Hydrogen atoms, 55, 182
+
+
+Insulators (non-conductors), 37, 47
+
+Iron atoms, 77
+
+Iron wires discarded, 88
+
+
+Lamp, electric, 140
+
+Leyden jar, 42, 202
+
+Light, 23, 60, 64, 133
+
+Light absorbed, 148
+
+Light, artificial, 140, 142
+
+Light, reflected, 148
+
+Lightning, 42, 48
+
+Lines in the spectrum, 152, 154, 160, 162
+
+Lorentz's declaration, 206
+
+
+Magnetic attraction, 78, 205
+
+Magnetic field, 68, 76, 118
+
+Magnetic repulsion, 205
+
+Magnetism, 73, 76, 203, 204
+
+Magnetism and electricity, 73
+
+Magnets, electro-, 76, 81, 83, 205
+
+Magnets, permanent, 83
+
+Mariner's compass, 77
+
+Matter, 52, 54
+
+Metal electrified, 37, 38
+
+Molecules of matter, 181, 183
+
+Moon's birth, 52, 54
+
+Morse telegraph, 88
+
+Motion in line of sight, 162
+
+Motor, electric, 116, 122
+
+
+Negative electricity, 23, 32, 39
+
+
+Oersted's discovery, 204
+
+Oxygen atoms, 182
+
+
+Permanent magnets, 82
+
+Positive electricity, 23, 32, 39, 52, 180
+
+Prism of glass, 147, 152
+
+
+Radiant heat, 131, 133, 142
+
+Radiant matter, 63, 205
+
+Radium, 188
+
+Rainbow, 147
+
+Rays from radium, 189, 190
+
+Reflection of light, 148
+
+Repulsion, electrical, 202
+
+Repulsion, magnetic, 205
+
+Roentgen rays, 167
+
+Roentgen's discovery, 168, 206
+
+
+Sea, cause of saltness, 56
+
+Shock, electric, 47
+
+Silk, electrified, 38
+
+Sodium atoms, 56, 182
+
+Spark, electric, 44
+
+Spectroscope, 152, 154, 207
+
+Spectrum, 144, 147, 152, 154
+
+Speed of electrons in conductor, 70
+
+Stars approaching the earth, 162
+
+Stars, constituents of the, 52, 55, 146
+
+Stoney, Dr. Johnstone, 206
+
+Sun, constituents of the, 154
+
+Sun's heat, 128, 131
+
+
+Telegraph signals, 90
+
+Telegraphy, wireless, 95
+
+Telephone, 109
+
+Telephony, wireless, 110
+
+Temperature, 180
+
+Tramway, electric, 117, 118, 122
+
+Transparent substances, 149
+
+
+Vacuum tubes, 60, 61, 132, 205
+
+Velocity of electrons, 70
+
+Volta's discovery, 203
+
+
+Waves in the aether, 96, 133, 137, 146, 148, 163
+
+Wireless messages from the stars, 162
+
+Wireless telegraphy, 95
+
+Wireless telephony, 110
+
+
+X-rays, 166, 206
+
+X-rays from radium, 189
+
+X-ray photography, 173
+
+
+Zeeman proves existence of electrons, 161, 206
+
+
+Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
+Edinburgh & London
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+    The following changes have been made to the original text:
+
+    Page xi:  "always necessary, How" changed to "always necessary. How"
+    Page 205: "vacuum tubes, When" changed to "vacuum tubes. When"
+    Page 214: "Negative electricity, 23, 32, 9" changed to "Negative
+	          electricity, 23, 32, 39"
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN ELECTRON***
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