And probably we shall never be able to learn any more than this. We have
arrived at a sort of box-within-a-box theory of the make-up of matter.
By a very elaborate system of unpacking, or by some violent external
force that makes the inside burst open, as it were, we seem to be able
to make pieces fly off from the atoms, these pieces being then projected
into space with enormous force and velocity. There are theories galore
of the structure of the atom; but as Prof. E.P. Lewis has said, most of
these theories are so impossible as to be absurd, or so speculative that
"they suggest no experimental tests for their validity."[2] Just at
present Rutherford's theory of the structure of the atom is quite
popular. This postulates a nucleus composed of a group of positive units
and electrons, with an excess of the positive charges equal to half the
atomic weight, with an equal number of electrons circulating about this
nucleus in rings. Bohr's theory, which is not very different from this,
has perhaps even more friends, and it is supported by the remarkable
discoveries of the lamented Moseley. But we must not take such theories
too seriously. As Kayser has said, any true theory of the make-up of the
atoms must assume an absolutely full and perfect knowledge of all
electrical and optical processes, and is therefore beyond our dreams.
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