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OCCULT CHEMISTRY
Clairvoyant Observations on the Chemical
Elements
by
ANNIE BESANT, P.T.S.
and
CHARLES W.
LEADBEATER
Revised Edition edited by A. P.
SINNETT
LONDON
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING HOUSE
1, UPPER WOBURN PLACE,
W.C. 1.
1919
EDITOR'S
PREFACE.
When undertaking to prepare a new edition of this book I
received
permission from the authors to "throw it into the form in which you
think
it would be most useful at the present time." It was left to my
discretion,
"What to use and what to omit." I have not found it necessary to
avail
myself to any considerable extent of this latter permission. But as
the
contents of the book were originally arranged the reader was
ill-prepared
to appreciate the importance of the later research for want of
introductory
matter explaining how it began, and how the early research led
up to the
later investigation. I have therefore contributed an entirely
new
preliminary chapter which will, I hope, help the reader to realise
the
credibility of the results attained when the molecular forms
and
constitution of the numerous bodies examined were definitely observed.
I
have not attempted to revise the records of the later research in which
I
had no personal share, so from the beginning of Chapter III to the end
the
book in its present form is simply a reprint of the original edition
except
for the correction of a few trifling misprints.
I have thus
endeavoured to bring into clear prominence at the outset the
scientific value
of the light the book sheds on the constitution of matter.
The world owes a
debt to scientific men of the ordinary type that cannot be
over-estimated,
but though they have hitherto preferred to progress
gradually, from point to
point, disliking leaps in the dark, the leap now
made is only in the dark for
those who will not realise that the progress
to be accomplished by means of
instrumental research must sooner or later
be supplemented by subtler
methods. Physical science has reached the
conception that the atoms of the
bodies hitherto called the chemical
elements are each composed of minor
atoms. Instrumental research cannot
determine by how many, in each case.
Occult research ascertained the actual
number in some cases by direct
observation and then discovered the law
governing the numbers in all cases,
and the relation of these numbers to
atomic weights. The law thus unveiled is
a demonstration of the accuracy of
the first direct observations, and this
principle once established the
credibility of accounts now given as to the
arrangement of minor atoms in
the molecules of the numerous elements
examined, seems to me advanced to a
degree approximating to proof.
It
remains to be seen--not how far, but rather how soon the scientific
world at
large will accept the conclusions of this volume as a definite
contribution
to science, blending the science of the laboratory with that
variety that has
hitherto been called occult.
CONTENTS.
I.--A
PRELIMINARY SURVEY
II.--DETAILS OF THE EARLY RESEARCH
THE
PLATONIC SOLIDS
III.--THE LATER
RESEARCHES
OCCULT CHEMISTRY.
CHAPTER
I.
A PRELIMINARY SURVEY.
The deep interest and importance of the
research which this book describes
will best be appreciated if introduced by
an account of the circumstances
out of which it arose. The first edition,
consisting mainly of articles
reprinted from the _Theosophist_, dealt at once
with the later phases of
the research in a way which, though intelligible to
the occult student,
must have been rather bewildering to the ordinary reader.
These later
phases, however, endow the earlier results with a significance
that in the
beginning could only be vaguely conjectured. I am the better
entitled to
perform the task that has been assigned to me--that of preparing
the
present edition--by reason of the fact that it was in my presence and at
my
instigation that the first efforts were made to penetrate the
mystery
previously enshrouding the ultimate molecule of matter.
I
remember the occasion vividly. Mr. Leadbeater was then staying at my
house,
and his clairvoyant faculties were frequently exercised for the
benefit of
myself, my wife and the theosophical friends around us. I had
discovered that
these faculties, exercised in the appropriate direction,
were
ultra-microscopic in their power. It occurred to me once to ask
Mr.
Leadbeater if he thought he could actually _see_ a molecule of
physical
matter. He was quite willing to try, and I suggested a molecule of
gold as
one which he might try to observe. He made the appropriate effort,
and
emerged from it saying the molecule in question was far too elaborate
a
structure to be described. It evidently consisted of an enormous number
of
some smaller atoms, quite too many to count; quite too complicated in
their
arrangement to be comprehended. It struck me at once that this might be
due
to the fact that gold was a heavy metal of high atomic weight, and
that
observation might be more successful if directed to a body of low
atomic
weight, so I suggested an atom of hydrogen as possibly more
manageable. Mr.
Leadbeater accepted the suggestion and tried again. This time
he found the
atom of hydrogen to be far simpler than the other, so that the
minor atoms
constituting the hydrogen atom were countable. They were arranged
on a
definite plan, which will be rendered intelligible by diagrams later
on,
and were eighteen in number.
We little realized at the moment the
enormous significance of this
discovery, made in the year 1895, long before
the discovery of radium
enabled physicists of the ordinary type to improve
their acquaintance with
the "electron." Whatever name is given to that minute
body it is recognised
now by ordinary science as well as by occult
observation, as the
fundamental unit of physical matter. To that extent
ordinary science has
overtaken the occult research I am dealing with, but
that research rapidly
carried the occult student into regions of knowledge
whither, it is
perfectly certain, the ordinary physicist must follow him at
no distant
date.
The research once started in the way I have described
was seen to be
intensely interesting. Mrs. Besant almost immediately
co-operated with Mr.
Leadbeater in its further progress. Encouraged by the
success with
hydrogen, the two important gases, oxygen and nitrogen, were
examined. They
proved to be rather more difficult to deal with than hydrogen
but were
manageable. Oxygen was found to consist of 290 minor atoms and
nitrogen of
261. Their grouping will be described later on. The interest and
importance
of the whole subject will best be appreciated by a rough
indication of the
results first attained. The reader will then have more
patience in
following the intricacies of the later discoveries.
The
figures just quoted were soon perceived to have a possible
significance. The
atomic weight of oxygen is commonly taken as 16. That is
to say, an atom of
oxygen is sixteen times heavier than an atom of
hydrogen. In this way, all
through the table of atomic weights, hydrogen is
taken as unity, without any
attempt being made to estimate its absolute
weight. But now with the atom of
hydrogen dissected, so to speak, and found
to consist of 18 somethings, while
the atom of oxygen consisted of 290 of
the same things, the sixteen to one
relationship reappears: 290 divided by
18 gives us 16 and a minute decimal
fraction. Again the nitrogen number
divided by 18 gives us 14 and a minute
fraction as the result, and that is
the accepted atomic weight of nitrogen.
This gave us a glimpse of a
principle that might run all through the table of
atomic weights. For
reasons having to do with other work, it was impossible
for the authors of
this book to carry on the research further at the time it
was begun. The
results already sketched were published as an article in the
magazine then
called _Lucifer_, in November, 1895, and reprinted as a
separate pamphlet
bearing the title "Occult Chemistry," a pamphlet the
surviving copies of
which will one day be a recognised vindication of the
method that will at
some time in the future be generally applied to the
investigation of
Nature's mysteries. For the later research which this volume
deals with
does establish the principle with a force that can hardly be
resisted by
any fair-minded reader. With patience and industry--the authors
being
assisted in the counting in a way that will be described (and the
method
adopted involved a check upon the accuracy of the counting)--the
minor
atoms of almost all the known chemical elements, as they are
commonly
called, were counted and found to bear the same relation to their
atomic
weights as had been suggested by the cases of oxygen and nitrogen.
This
result throws back complete proof on the original estimate of the number
of
minor atoms in hydrogen, a figure which ordinary research has so
far
entirely failed to determine. The guesses have been widely various,
from
unity to many hundreds, but, unacquainted with the clairvoyant method,
the
ordinary physicist has no means of reaching the actual state of the
facts.
Before going on with the details of the later research some very
important
discoveries arising from the early work must first be explained. As
I have
already said clairvoyant faculty of the appropriate order directed to
the
minute phenomena of Nature is practically infinite in its range.
Not
content with estimating the number of minor atoms in physical
molecules,
the authors proceeded to examine the minor atoms individually.
They were
found to be themselves elaborately complicated structures which, in
this
preliminary survey of the whole subject, I will not stop to explain
(full
explanation will be found later on) and they are composed of
atoms
belonging to an ultra-physical realm of Nature with which the occultist
has
long been familiar and describes as "the Astral Plane." Some
rather
pedantic critics have found fault with the term, as the "plane" in
question
is of course really a sphere entirely surrounding the physical
globe, but
as all occultists understand the word, "plane" simply signifies a
condition
of nature. Each condition, and there are many more than the two
under
consideration, blends with its neighbour, _via_ atomic structure. Thus
the
atoms of the Astral plane in combination give rise to the finest variety
of
physical matter, the ether of space, which is not homogeneous but
really
atomic in its character, and the minute atoms of which physical
molecules
are composed are atoms of ether, "etheric atoms," as we have now
learned to
call them.
Many physicists, though not all, will resent the
idea of treating the ether
of space as atomic. But at all events the
occultist has the satisfaction of
knowing that the great Russian chemist,
Mendeleef, preferred the atomic
theory. In Sir William Tilden's recent book
entitled "Chemical Discovery
and Invention in the Twentieth Century," I read
that Mendeleef,
"disregarding conventional views," supposed the ether to have
a molecular
or atomic structure, and in time all physicists must come to
recognise that
the Electron is not, as so many suppose at present, an atom of
electricity,
but an atom of ether carrying a definite unit charge of
electricity.
Long before the discovery of radium led to the recognition
of the electron
as the common constituent of all the bodies previously
described as
chemical elements, the minute particles of matter in question
had been
identified with the cathode rays observed in Sir William Crookes'
vacuum
tubes. When an electric current is passed through a tube from which
the air
(or other gas it may contain) has been almost entirely exhausted,
a
luminous glow pervades the tube manifestly emanating from the cathode
or
negative pole of the circuit. This effect was studied by Sir
William
Crookes very profoundly. Among other characteristics it was found
that, if
a minute windmill was set up in the tube before it was exhausted,
the
cathode ray caused the vanes to revolve, thus suggesting the idea that
they
consisted of actual particles driven against the vanes; the ray being
thus
evidently something more than a mere luminous effect. Here was a
mechanical
energy to be explained, and at the first glance it seemed
difficult to
reconcile the facts observed with the idea creeping into favour,
that the
particles, already invested with the name "electron," were atoms
of
electricity pure and simple. Electricity was found, or certain
eminent
physicists thought they had found, that electricity _per se_ had
inertia.
So the windmills in the Crookes' vacuum tubes were supposed to be
moved by
the impact of electric atoms.
Then in the progress of
ordinary research the discovery of radium by Madame
Curie in the year 1902
put an entirely new face upon the subject of
electrons. The beta particles
emanating from radium were soon identified
with the electrons of the cathode
ray. Then followed the discovery that the
gas helium, previously treated as a
separate element, evolved itself as one
consequence of the disintegration of
radium. Transmutation, till then
laughed at as a superstition of the
alchemist, passed quietly into the
region of accepted natural phenomena, and
the chemical elements were seen
to be bodies built up of electrons in varying
number and probably in
varying arrangements. So at last ordinary science had
reached one important
result of the occult research carried on seven years
earlier. It has not
yet reached the finer results of the occult research--the
_structure_ of
the hydrogen atom with its eighteen etheric atoms and the way
in which the
atomic weights of all elements are explained by the number of
etheric atoms
entering into their constitution.
The ether of space,
though defying instrumental examination, comes within
scope of the
clairvoyant faculty, and profoundly interesting discoveries
were made during
what I have called the early research in connexion with
that branch of the
inquiry. Etheric atoms combine to form molecules in many
different ways, but
combinations involving fewer atoms than the eighteen
which give rise to
hydrogen, make no impression on the physical senses nor
on physical
instruments of research. They give rise to varieties of
molecular ether, the
comprehension of which begins to illuminate realms of
natural mystery as yet
entirely untrodden by the ordinary physicist.
Combinations below 18 in number
give rise to three varieties of molecular
ether, the functions of which when
they come to be more fully studied will
constitute a department of natural
knowledge on the threshold of which we
already stand. Some day we may perhaps
be presented with a volume on Occult
Physics as important in its way as the
present dissertation on Occult
Chemistry.
* *
* * *
CHAPTER II.
DETAILS OF THE EARLY
RESEARCH.
The article detailing the results of the research carried on in
the year
1895 (see the November issue for that year of the magazine then
called
_Lucifer_), began with some general remarks about the clairvoyant
faculty,
already discussed in the preceding chapter. The original record then
goes
on as follows:--
The physical world is regarded as being composed
of between sixty and
seventy chemical elements, aggregated into an infinite
variety of
combinations. These combinations fall under the three main heads
of solids,
liquids and gases, the recognised substates of physical matter,
with the
theoretical ether scarcely admitted as material. Ether, to the
scientist,
is not a substate or even a state of matter, but is a something
apart by
itself. It would not be allowed that gold could be raised to the
etheric
condition as it might be to the liquid and gaseous; whereas the
occultist
knows that the gaseous is succeeded by the etheric, as the solid
is
succeeded by the liquid, and he knows also that the word "ether"
covers
four substates as distinct from each other as are the solids, liquids
and
gases, and that all chemical elements have their four etheric
substates,
the highest being common to all, and consisting of the ultimate
physical
atoms to which all elements are finally reducible. The chemical atom
is
regarded as the ultimate particle of any element, and is supposed to
be
indivisible and unable to exist in a free state. Mr. Crookes'
researches
have led the more advanced chemists to regard the atoms as
compound, as a
more or less complex aggregation of protyle.
To astral
vision ether is a visible thing, and is seen permeating all
substances and
encircling every particle. A "solid" body is a body composed
of a vast number
of particles suspended in ether, each vibrating backwards
and forwards in a
particular field at a high rate of velocity; the
particles are attracted
towards each other more strongly than they are
attracted by external
influences, and they "cohere," or maintain towards
each other a definite
relation in space. Closer examination shows that the
ether is not homogeneous
but consists of particles of numerous kinds,
differing in the aggregations of
the minute bodies composing them; and a
careful and more detailed method of
analysis reveals that it has four
distinct degrees, giving us, with the
solid, liquid and gaseous, seven
instead of four substates of matter in the
physical world.
These four etheric substates will be best understood if
the method be
explained by which they were studied. This method consisted of
taking what
is called an atom of gas, and breaking it up time after time,
until what
proved to be the ultimate physical atom was reached, the breaking
up of
this last resulting in the production of astral, and no longer
physical
matter.
[Illustration]
It is, of course, impossible to
convey by words the clear conceptions that
are gained by direct vision of the
objects of study, and the accompanying
diagram--cleverly drawn from the
description given by the investigators--is
offered as a substitute, however
poor, for the lacking vision of the
readers. The horizontal lines separate
from each other the seven substates
of matter; solid, liquid, gas, ether 4,
ether 3, ether 2, ether 1. On the
gas level are represented three chemical
atoms, one of hydrogen (H), one of
oxygen (O), one of nitrogen (N). The
successive changes undergone by each
chemical atom are shown in the
compartments vertically above it, the
left-hand column showing the breaking
up of the hydrogen atom, the middle
column that of the oxygen atom, the
right-hand column, that of the nitrogen
atom. The ultimate physical atom is
marked _a_, and is drawn only once,
although it is the same throughout. The
numbers 18, 290 and 261 are the
numbers of the ultimate physical atoms found
to exist in a chemical atom.
The dots indicate the lines along which
force is observed to be playing,
and the arrowheads show the direction of the
force. No attempt has been
made to show this below E 2 except in the case of
the hydrogen. The letters
given are intended to help the reader to trace
upwards any special body;
thus _d_ in the oxygen chemical atom on the gas
level may be found again on
E 4, E 3, and E 2. It must be remembered that the
bodies shown
diagrammatically in no way indicate relative size; as a body is
raised from
one substate to the one immediately above it, it is enormously
magnified
for the purpose of investigation, and the ultimate atom on E 1
is
represented by the dot _a_ on the gaseous level.
The first chemical
atom selected for this examination was an atom of
hydrogen (H). On looking
carefully at it, it was seen to consist of six
small bodies, contained in an
egg-like form. It rotated with great rapidity
on its own axis, vibrating at
the same time, and the internal bodies
performed similar gyrations. The whole
atom spins and quivers, and has to
be steadied before exact observation is
possible. The six little bodies are
arranged in two sets of three, forming
two triangles that are not
interchangeable, but are related to each other as
object and image. (The
lines in the diagram of it on the gaseous sub-plane
are not lines of force,
but show the two triangles; on a plane surface the
interpenetration of the
triangles cannot be clearly indicated.) Further, the
six bodies are not all
alike; they each contain three smaller bodies--each of
these being an
ultimate physical atom--but in two of them the three atoms are
arranged in
a line, while in the remaining four they are arranged in a
triangle.
The wall of the limiting spheroid in which the bodies are
enclosed being
composed of the matter of the third, or gaseous, kind, drops
away when the
gaseous atom is raised to the next level, and the six bodies
are set free.
They at once re-arrange themselves in two triangles, each
enclosed by a
limiting sphere; the two marked _b_ in the diagram unite with
one of those
marked _b'_ to form a body which shows a positive character, the
remaining
three forming a second body negative in type. These form the
hydrogen
particles of the lowest plane of ether, marked E 4--ether 4--on
the
diagram. On raising these further, they undergo another
disintegration,
losing their limiting walls; the positive body of E 4, on
losing its wall,
becomes two bodies, one consisting of the two particles,
marked _b_,
distinguishable by the linear arrangement of the contained
ultimate atoms,
enclosed in a wall, and the other being the third body
enclosed in E 4 and
now set free. The negative body of E 4 similarly, on
losing its wall,
becomes two bodies, one consisting of the two particles
marked _b'_, and
the second the remaining body, being set free. These free
bodies do not
remain on E 3 but pass immediately to E 2, leaving the positive
and
negative bodies, each containing two particles, as the representatives
of
hydrogen on E 3. On taking these bodies a step higher their
wall
disappears, and the internal bodies are set free, those containing
the
atoms arranged lineally being positive, and those with the
triangular
arrangement being negative. These two forms represent hydrogen on
E 2, but
similar bodies of this state of matter are found entering into
other
combinations, as may be seen by referring to _f_ on E 2 of nitrogen
(N). On
raising these bodies yet one step further, the falling away of the
walls
sets the contained atoms free, and we reach the ultimate physical atom,
the
matter of E 1. The disintegration of this sets free particles of
astral
matter, so that we have reached in this the limit of physical matter.
The
Theosophical reader will notice with interest that we can thus
observe
seven distinct substates of physical matter, and no more.
The
ultimate atom, which is the same in all the observed cases, is an
exceedingly
complex body, and only its main characteristics are given in
the diagram. It
is composed entirely of spirals, the spiral being in its
turn composed of
spirillæ, and these again of minuter spirillæ. A fairly
accurate drawing is
given in Babbitt's "Principles of Light and Colour," p.
102. The
illustrations there given of atomic combinations are entirely
wrong and
misleading, but if the stove-pipe run through the centre of the
single atom
be removed, the picture may be taken as correct, and will give
some idea of
the complexity of this fundamental unit of the
physical
universe.
Turning to the force side of the atom and its
combinations, we observe that
force pours in the heart-shaped depression at
the top of the atom, and
issues from the point, and is changed in character
by its passage; further,
force rushes through every spiral and every
spirilla, and the changing
shades of colour that flash out from the rapidly
revolving and vibrating
atom depend on the several activities of the spirals;
sometimes one,
sometimes another, is thrown into more energetic action, and
with the
change of activity from one spiral to another the colour
changes.
The building of a gaseous atom of hydrogen may be traced
downward from E 1,
and, as stated above, the lines given in the diagram are
intended to
indicate the play of the forces which bring about the several
combinations.
Speaking generally, positive bodies are marked by their
contained atoms
setting their points towards each other and the centre of
their
combination, and repelling each other outwards; negative bodies are
marked
by the heart-shaped depressions being turned inwards, and by a
tendency to
move towards each other instead of away. Every combination begins
by a
welling up of force at a centre, which is to form the centre of
the
combination; in the first positive hydrogen combination, E 2, an
atom
revolving at right angles to the plane of the paper and also revolving
on
its own axis, forms the centre, and force, rushing out at its lower
point,
rushes in at the depressions of two other atoms, which then set
themselves
with their points to the centre; the lines are shown in +b,
right-hand
figure. (The left-hand figure indicates the revolution of the
atoms each by
itself.) As this atomic triad whirls round, it clears itself a
space,
pressing back the undifferentiated matter of the plane, and making
to
itself a whirling wall of this matter, thus taking the first step
towards
building up the chemical hydrogen atom. A negative atomic triad
is
similarly formed, the three atoms being symmetrically arranged round
the
centre of out-welling force. These atomic triads then combine, two of
the
linear arrangement being attracted to each other, and two of
the
triangular, force again welling up and forming a centre and acting on
the
triads as on a single atom, and a limiting wall being again formed as
the
combination revolves round its centre. The next stage is produced by
each
of these combinations on E 3 attracting to itself a third atomic triad
of
the triangular type from E 2, by the setting up of a new centre
of
up-welling force, following the lines traced in the combinations of E
4.
Two of these uniting, and their triangles interpenetrating, the
chemical
atom is formed, and we find it to contain in all eighteen ultimate
physical
atoms.
The next substance investigated was oxygen, a far more
complicated and
puzzling body; the difficulties of observation were very much
increased by
the extraordinary activity shown by this element and the
dazzling
brilliancy of some of its constituents. The gaseous atom is an ovoid
body,
within which a spirally-coiled snake-like body revolves at a high
velocity,
five brilliant points of light shining on the coils. The snake
appears to
be a solid rounded body, but on raising the atom to E 4 the snake
splits
lengthwise into two waved bodies, and it is seen that the appearance
of
solidity is due to the fact that these spin round a common axis in
opposite
directions, and so present a continuous surface, as a ring of fire
can be
made by whirling a lighted stick. The brilliant bodies seen in the
atom are
on the crests of the waves in the positive snake, and in the hollows
in the
negative one; the snake itself consists of small bead-like bodies,
eleven
of which interpose between the larger brilliant spots. On raising
these
bodies to E 3 the snakes break up, each bright spot carrying with it
six
beads on one side and five on the other; these twist and writhe about
still
with the same extraordinary activity, reminding one of
fire-flies
stimulated to wild gyrations. It can been seen that the larger
brilliant
bodies each enclose seven ultimate atoms, while the beads each
enclose two.
(Each bright spot with its eleven beads is enclosed in a wall,
accidentally
omitted in the diagram.) On the next stage, E 2, the fragments
of the
snakes break up into their constituent parts; the positive and
negative
bodies, marked _d_ and _d'_, showing a difference of arrangement of
the
atoms contained in them. These again finally disintegrate, setting free
the
ultimate physical atoms, identical with those obtained from hydrogen.
The
number of ultimate atoms contained in the gaseous atom of oxygen is
290,
made up as follows:--
2 in each bead, of which there are
110:
7 in each bright spot, of which there are 10;
2 x 110 + 70 =
290.
When the observers had worked out this, they compared it with the
number of
ultimate atoms in hydrogen:--
290 / 18 = 16.11
+
The respective number of ultimate atoms contained in a chemical atom
of
these two bodies are thus seen to closely correspond with their
accepted
weight-numbers.
It may be said in passing that a chemical
atom of ozone appears as an
oblate spheroid, with the contained spiral much
compressed and widened in
the centre; the spiral consists of three snakes,
one positive and two
negative, formed in a single revolving body. On raising
the chemical atom
to the next plane, the snake divides into three, each being
enclosed in its
own egg.
The chemical atom of nitrogen was the third
selected by the students for
examination, as it seemed comparatively quiet in
contrast with the
ever-excited oxygen. It proved, however, to be the most
complicated of all
in its internal arrangements, and its quiet was therefore
a little
deceptive. Most prominent was the balloon-shaped body in the middle,
with
six smaller bodies in two horizontal rows and one large egg-shaped one
in
the midst, contained in it. Some chemical atoms were seen in which
the
internal arrangement of these contained bodies was changed and the
two
horizontal rows became vertical; this change seemed to be connected with
a
greater activity of the whole body, but the observations on this head
are
too incomplete to be reliable. The balloon-shaped body is positive, and
is
apparently drawn downwards towards the negative egg-shaped body below
it,
containing seven smaller particles. In addition to these large bodies,
four
small ones are seen, two positive and two negative, the positive
containing
five and the negative four minuter spots. On raising the gaseous
atom to
E 4, the falling away of the wall sets free the six contained bodies,
and
both the balloon and the egg round themselves, apparently with the
removal
of their propinquity, as though they had exercised over each other
some
attractive influence. The smaller bodies within the egg--marked _q_
on
E 4--are not on one plane, and those within _n_ and _o_ form
respectively
square-based and triangular-based pyramids. On raising all these
bodies to
E 3 we find the walls fall away as usual, and the contents of each
"cell"
are set free: _p_ of E 4 contains six small bodies marked _k_, and
these
are shown in _k_ of E 3, as containing each seven little
bodies--marked
_e_--each of which has within it two ultimate atoms; the long
form of _p_
E 4--marked _l_--appears as the long form _l_ on E 3, and this
has three
pairs of smaller bodies within it, _f'_, _g_ and _h_,
containing
respectively three, four and six ultimate atoms; _q_ of E 4, with
its seven
contained particles, _m_, has three particles _m_ on E 3, each
showing
three ultimate atoms within them; _e_ from _n_ of E 4 becomes _i_ of
E 3,
with contained bodies, _e_, showing two ultimate atoms in each; while
_e'_
from _o_ of E 4 becomes _j_ of E 3, each having three smaller bodies
within
it, _e'_, with two ultimate atoms in each. On E 2, the arrangement of
these
ultimate atoms is shown, and the pairs, _f'_, _g_ and _h_ are seen with
the
lines of force indicated; the triads in _f_--from _m_ of E 3--are
similarly
shown, and the duads in _e_ and _e'_--from _i_ and _j_ of E 3--are
given in
the same way. When all these bodies are raised to E 1, the
ultimate
physical atoms are set free, identical, of course, with that
previously
described. Reckoning up the number of ultimate physical atoms in a
chemical
atom of nitrogen we find they amount to 261, thus
divided:--
62 + bodies with 2 ultimate atoms, 62 x 2 =
124
24 - " " 2 " " 24 x 2 = 48
21
- " " 3 " " 21 x 3 = 63
2 + " "
3 " " 2 x 3 = 6
2 + " " 4 " " 2
x 4 = 8
2 + " " 4 " " 2 x 6
= 12
----
261
This again approaches closely the weight-number assigned to
nitrogen:--
261 / 18 =14.44 +
This is interesting as checking
the observations, for weight-numbers are
arrived at in so very different a
fashion, and especially in the case of
nitrogen the approximation is
noteworthy, from the complexity of the bodies
which yield the number on
analysis.
Some other observations were made which went to show that as
weight-numbers
increased, there was a corresponding increase in the number of
bodies
discerned within the chemical atom; thus, gold showed forty-seven
contained
bodies; but these observations need repetition and checking.
Investigation
of a molecule of water revealed the presence of twelve bodies
from hydrogen
and the characteristic snake of oxygen, the encircling walls of
the
chemical atoms being broken away. But here again, further observations
are
necessary to substantiate details. The present paper is only offered as
a
suggestion of an inviting line of research, promising interesting
results
of a scientific character; the observations recorded have been
repeated
several times and are not the work of a single investigator, and
they are
believed to be correct so far as they go.
THE PLATONIC
SOLIDS.
Some of our readers may be glad to have a drawing of the Platonic
solids,
since they play so large a part in the building up of elements. The
regular
solids are five, and five only; in each:
(1) The lines are
equal.
(2) The angles are equal.
(3) The surfaces are
equal.
[Illustration]
It will be seen that the tetrahedron is the
fundamental form, the
three-sided pyramid on a triangular base, _i.e._, a
solid figure formed
from four triangles. Two of these generate the cube and
the octahedron;
five of these generate the dodecahedron and the
icosahedron.
The rhombic dodecahedron is not regular, for though the
lines and surfaces
are equal, the angles are not.
NOTES.
Mr. C.
Jinarajadasa[1] writes:
The asterisk put before metargon in the list of
elements should be omitted,
for metargon had been discovered by Sir William
Ramsey and Mr. Travers at
the same time as neon (see _Proceedings of the
Royal Society_, vol. lxiii,
p. 411), and therefore before it was observed
clairvoyantly. It is not,
however, given in the latest list of elements in
the Report of November 13,
1907, of the International Atomic Weights
Commission, so it would seem as
though it were not yet fully
recognised.
Neon was discovered in 1898 by Ramsey and Travers, and the
weight given to
it was 22. This almost corresponds with our weight for
meta-neon, 22.33;
the latest weight given to neon is 20, and that corresponds
within
one-tenth to our weight, 19.9. From this it would seem that neon
was
examined in the later investigations and meta-neon in the
earlier.
He says further on a probable _fourth_ Interperiodic
Group:
Thinking over the diagrams, it seemed to me likely that a fourth
group
exists, coming on the paramagnetic side, directly under iron,
cobalt,
nickel, just one complete swing of the pendulum after rhodium,
ruthenium,
palladium. This would make four interperiodic groups, and they
would come
also _periodically_ in the table too.
I took the diagram
for Osmium, and in a bar postulated only three columns
for the first element
of the new groups, _i.e._, one column less than in
Osmium. This would make
183 atoms in a bar; the new group then would follow
in a bar, 183, 185, 187.
Here I found to my surprise that the third
postulated group would have a
remarkable relation to Os, Ir, Pt.
Thus
Os.--245 (in a
bar); less 60 = 185
Ir. 247 less 60 =
187
Pt. 249 less 60 = 189
But strange to say
_also_
Ruthenium (bar) 132 less
60--72
Rhodium 134 less
60--74
Palladium 136 less 60--76
But 72, 74, 76,
are Iron, Cobalt and Nickel.
So there does probably exist a new group
with bars (183), 185, 187, 189,
with atomic weights.
X=bar
185; atoms 2590, wt. 143.3
Y= 187, 2618, wt.
145.4
Z= 189, 2646, wt. 147.0.
They come probably
among the rare earths. Probably also Neodymium and
Praseodymium are two of
them, for their weights are 143.6, 140.5.
* * *
* *
CHAPTER III.
THE LATER RESEARCHES.
The
first difficulty that faced us was the identification of the forms seen
on
focusing the sight on gases.[2] We could only proceed tentatively. Thus,
a
very common form in the air had a sort of dumb-bell shape (see Plate I);
we
examined this, comparing our rough sketches, and counted its atoms;
these,
divided by 18--the number of ultimate atoms in hydrogen--gave us
23.22 as
atomic weight, and this offered the presumption that it was
sodium. We then
took various substances--common salt, etc.--in which we
knew sodium was
present, and found the dumb-bell form in all. In other
cases, we took small
fragments of metals, as iron, tin, zinc, silver, gold;
in others, again,
pieces of ore, mineral waters, etc., etc., and, for the
rarest substances,
Mr. Leadbeater visited a mineralogical museum. In all,
57 chemical elements
were examined, out of the 78 recognized by modern
chemistry.
In
addition to these, we found 3 chemical waifs: an unrecognized
stranger
between hydrogen and helium which we named occultum, for purposes
of
reference, and 2 varieties of one element, which we named kalon
and
meta-kalon, between xenon and osmium; we also found 4 varieties of
4
recognized elements and prefixed meta to the name of each, and a
second
form of platinum, that we named Pt. B. Thus we have tabulated in all
65
chemical elements, or chemical atoms, completing three of Sir
William
Crookes' lemniscates, sufficient for some amount of
generalization.
[Illustration: PLATE I. SODIUM.]
In counting the
number of ultimate atoms in a chemical elemental atom, we
did not count them
throughout, one by one; when, for instance, we counted
up the ultimate atoms
in sodium, we dictated the number in each convenient
group to Mr.
Jinarajadasa, and he multiplied out the total, divided by 18,
and announced
the result. Thus: sodium (_see_ Plate I) is composed of an
upper part,
divisible into a globe and 12 funnels; a lower part, similarly
divided; and a
connecting rod. We counted the number in the upper part:
globe--10; the
number in two or three of the funnels--each 16; the number
of funnels--12;
the same for the lower part; in the connecting rod--14. Mr.
Jinarajadasa
reckoned: 10 + (16 x 12) = 202; hence: 202 + 202 + 14 = 418:
divided by 18 =
23.22 recurring. By this method we guarded our counting
from any
prepossession, as it was impossible for us to know how the various
numbers
would result on addition, multiplication and division, and the
exciting
moment came when we waited to see if our results endorsed or
approached any
accepted weight. In the heavier elements, such as gold, with
3546 atoms, it
would have been impossible to count each atom without quite
unnecessary waste
of time, when making a preliminary investigation. Later,
it may be worth
while to count each division separately, as in some we
noticed that two
groups, at first sight alike, differed by 1 or 2 atoms,
and some very slight
errors may, in this way, have crept into our
calculations.
In the
following table is a list of the chemical elements examined; the
first column
gives the names, the asterisk affixed to some indicating that
they have not
yet been discovered by orthodox chemistry. The second column
gives the number
of ultimate physical atoms contained in one chemical atom
of the element
concerned. The third column gives the weight as compared
with hydrogen, taken
as 18, and this is obtained by dividing the calculated
number of ultimate
atoms by 18. The fourth column gives the recognized
weight-number, mostly
according to the latest list of atomic weights, the
"International List" of
1905, given in Erdmann's "Lehrbuch der
Unorganischen Chemie." These weights
differ from those hitherto accepted,
and are generally lighter than those
given in earlier text-books. It is
interesting to note that our counting
endorses the earlier numbers, for the
most part, and we must wait to see if
later observations will endorse the
last results of orthodox chemistry, or
confirm
ours.
--------------------------------------------
Hydrogen
| 18 | 1 | 1
*Occultum | 54 | 3 |
--
Helium | 72 | 4 | 3.94
Lithium | 127
| 7.06 | 6.98
Baryllium | 164 | 9.11 |
9.01
Boron | 200 | 11.11 | 10.86
Carbon | 216
| 12 | 11.91
Nitrogen | 261
| 14.50 | 14.01
Oxygen | 290
| 16.11 | 15.879
Fluorine | 340
| 18.88 | 18.90
Neon | 360 | 20
| 19.9
*Meta-Neon | 402 | 22.33 | --
Sodium | 418
| 23.22 | 22.88
Magnesium | 432 | 24
| 24.18
Aluminium | 486 | 27 | 26.91
Silicon |
520 | 28.88 | 28.18
Phosphorus | 558 | 31
| 30.77
Sulphur | 576 | 32 | 31.82
Chlorine |
639 | 35.50 | 35.473
Potassium | 701 | 38.944
| 38.85
Argon | 714 | 39.66 | 39.60
Calcium |
720 | 40 | 39.74
*Metargon | 756 | 42 |
--
Scandium | 792 | 44 | 43.78
Titanium | 864
| 48 | 47.74
Vanadium | 918 | 51
| 50.84
Chromium | 936 | 52 | 51.74
Manganese |
992 | 55.11 | 54.57
Iron | 1008 | 56
| 55.47
Cobalt | 1036 | 57.55 | 57.7
Nickel
| 1064 | 59.ll | 58.30
Copper | 1139 | 63.277
| 63.12
Zinc | 1170 | 65
| 64.91
Gallium | 1260 | 70
| 69.50
Germanium | 1300
| 72.22 | 71.93
Arsenic | 1350 | 75
| 74.45
Selenium | 1422 | 79
| 78.58
Bromine | 1439 | 79.944
| 79.953
Krypton | 1464
| 81.33 | 81.20
*Meta-Krypton | 1506 | 83.66 |
--
Rubidium | 1530 | 85 | 84.85
Strontium | 1568
| 87.11 | 86.95
Yttrium | 1606
| 89.22 | 88.34
Zirconium | 1624
| 90.22 | 89.85
Niobium | 1719
| 95.50 | 93.25
Molybdenum | 1746 | 97
| 95.26
Ruthenium | 1848 | 102.66 |
100.91
Rhodium | 1876 | 104.22 |
102.23
Palladium | 1904 | 105.77 | 105.74
Silver
| 1945 | 108.055 | 107.93
Cadmium | 2016 | 112 |
111.60
Indium | 2052 | 114 |
114.05
Tin | 2124 | 118 | 118.10
Antimony
| 2169 | 120.50 | 119.34
Tellurium | 2223 | 123.50 |
126.64
Iodine | 2287 | 127.055 |
126.01
Xenon | 2298 | 127.66 |
127.10
*Meta-Xenon | 2340 | 130 | --
*Kalon | 3054
| 169.66 | --
*Meta-Kalon | 3096 | 172 | --
Osmium
| 3430 | 190.55 | 189.55
Iridium | 3458 | 192.11 |
191.56
Platinum A | 3486 | 193.66 | 193.34
*Platinum
B | 3514 | 195.22 | --
Gold | 3546 | 197 |
195.74
--------------------------------------------
[Illustration: PLATE
II. MALE (left) and FEMALE (right).]
As the words "ultimate physical
atom" must frequently occur, it is
necessary to state what we mean by the
phrase. Any gaseous chemical atom
may be dissociated into less complicated
bodies; these, again, into still
less complicated; these, again, into yet
still less complicated. These will
be dealt with presently. After the third
dissociation but one more is
possible; the fourth dissociation gives the
ultimate physical atom.[3] This
may vanish from the physical plane, but it
can undergo no further
dissociation on it. In this ultimate state of physical
matter two types of
atoms have been observed; they are alike in everything
save the direction
of their whorls and of the force which pours through them.
In the one case
force pours in from the "outside," from fourth-dimensional
space,[4] and
passing through the atom, pours into the physical world. In the
second, it
pours in from the physical world, and out through the atom into
the
"outside" again,[4] _i.e._, vanishes from the physical world. The one
is
like a spring, from which water bubbles out; the other is like a hole,
into
which water disappears. We call the atoms from which force comes
out
_positive_ or _male_; those through which it disappears, _negative_
or
_female_. All atoms, so far as observed, are of one or other of these two
forms. (Plate II.) |
|
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