VI.
III and IIIa.—The Cube Groups.
We have here four groups to consider, all the members of which are triads, and have six funnels, opening on the six faces of a cube.
III.—Boron, scandium and yttrium were examined; they are all triatomic, paramagnetic, and positive. The corresponding group consists of nitrogen, vanadium and niobium; they are triatomic, paramagnetic, and negative. We have not examined the remaining members of these groups. In these two groups nitrogen dominates, and in order to make the comparison easy the nitrogen elements are figured on both [Plate XI] and [Plate XII]. It will be seen that scandium and yttrium, of the positive group, differ only in details from vanadium and niobium, of the negative group; the ground-plan on which they are built is the same. We noted a similar close resemblance between the positive strontium and the negative molybdenum.
Boron
(
, 4, and Plate
, 1). We have here the simplest form of the cube; the funnels contain only five bodies—four six-atomed ovoids and one six-atomed "cigar." The central globe has but four five-atomed spheres. It is as simple in relation to its congeners as is beryllium to its group-members.
BORON: 6 funnels of 30 atoms 180
Central globe 20
----
Total 200
----
Atomic weight 10.86
Number weight 200/18 11.11
Scandium
(
, 2). For the first time we meet funnels of different types, A and B, three of each kind; A appear to be positive and B negative, but this must be stated with reserve.
In A the boron funnel is reproduced, the "cigar" having risen above its companion ovoids; but the most important matter to note in respect to this funnel is our introduction to the body marked a 110. This body was observed by us first in nitrogen, in 1895, and we gave it the name of the "nitrogen balloon," for in nitrogen it takes the balloon form, which it also often assumes in other gaseous elements. Here it appears as a sphere—the form always assumed on the proto level—and it will be seen, on reference to the detailed diagram 4 a, to be a complicated body, consisting of six fourteen-atomed globes arranged round a long ovoid containing spheres with three, four, six, six, four, three, atoms respectively. It will be observed that this balloon appears in every member of these two groups, except boron.
The B funnel runs largely to triads, c and b, b (see 4 b) having not only a triadic arrangement of spheres within its contained globes, but each sphere has also a triplet of atoms. In c (see 4 c) there is a triadic arrangement of spheres, but each contains duads. B is completed by a five-atomed sphere at the top of the funnel. It should be noted that a, b and c all are constituents of nitrogen.
The central globe repeats that of boron, with an additional four-atomed sphere in the middle.
SCANDIUM: 3 funnels (A) of 140 atoms 420
3 " (B) of 116 " 348
Centre globe 24
----
Total 792
----
Atomic weight 43.78
Number weight 792/18 44.00
Yttrium
(
, 3). Here we have a quite new arrangement of bodies within the funnel—the funnel being of one type only. Two "cigars" whirl on their own axes in the centre near the top, while four eight-atomed globes (see 4
e
) chase each other in a circle round them, spinning madly on their own axes—this axial spinning seems constant in all contained bodies—all the time. Lower down in the funnel, a similar arrangement is seen, with a globe (see 4
d
)—a nitrogen element—replacing the "cigars," and six-atomed ovoids replacing the globes.
The "nitrogen balloon" occupies the third place in the funnel, now showing its usual shape in combination, while the b globe (see 4 b) of scandium takes on a lengthened form below it.
The central globe presents us with two tetrahedra, recalling one of the combinations in gold (see [Plate VII] d), and differing from that only by the substitution of two quartets for the two triplets in gold.
One funnel of yttrium contains exactly the same number of atoms as is contained in a gaseous atom of nitrogen. Further, a, b, and d are all nitrogen elements. We put on record these facts, without trying to draw any conclusions from them. Some day, we—or others—may find out their significance, and trace through them obscure relations.
YTTRIUM: 6 funnels of 261 atoms 1566
Central globe 40
----
Total 1606
----
Atomic weight 88.34
Number weight 1606/18 89.22
The corresponding negative group, of nitrogen, vanadium and niobium, is rendered particularly interesting by the fact that it is headed by nitrogen, which—like the air, of which it forms so large a part—pervades so many of the bodies we are studying. What is there in nitrogen which renders it so inert as to conveniently dilute the fiery oxygen and make it breathable, while it is so extraordinarily active in some of its compounds that it enters into the most powerful explosives? Some chemist of the future, perhaps, will find the secret in the arrangement of its constituent parts, which we are able only to describe.
Nitrogen
(
, 1) does not assume the cubical form of its relatives, but is in shape like an egg. Referring again to our 1895 investigations, I quote from them. The balloon-shaped body (see 4
a
) floats in the middle of the egg, containing six small spheres in two horizontal rows, and a long ovoid in the midst; this balloon-shaped body is positive, and is drawn down towards the negative body
b
(see 4
b
) with its seven contained spheres, each of which has nine atoms within it—three triads. Four spheres are seen, in addition to the two larger bodies; two of these (see 4
d
), each containing five smaller globes, are positive, and two (see 4
c
) containing four smaller globes, are negative.
NITROGEN: Balloon 110
Oval 63
2 bodies of 20 atoms 40
2 " " 24 " 48
----
Total 261
----
Atomic weight 14.01
Number weight 261/18 14.50
Vanadium
(
, 2) closely follows scandium, having two types of funnels. Funnel A only differs from that of scandium by having a globe (see 4
d
) inserted in the ring of four ovoids; funnel B has a six-atomed, instead of a five-atomed globe at the top, and slips a third globe containing twenty atoms (see 4
d
) between the two identical with those of scandium (see 4
c
). The central globe has seven atoms in its middle body instead of four. In this way does vanadium succeed in overtopping scandium by 126 atoms.
VANADIUM: 3 funnels (A) of 160 atoms 480
3 " (B) " 137 " 411
Central globe 27
----
Total 918
----
Atomic weight 50.84
Number weight 918/18 51.00
Niobium
(
, 3) is as closely related to yttrium as is vanadium to scandium. The little globes that scamper round the "cigars" contain twelve atoms instead of eight (see 4
e
).
The rest of the funnel is the same. In the central globe both the tetrahedra have "cigars," and a central nine-atomed globe spins round in the centre (see 4 f), seventeen atoms being thus added.
NIOBIUM: 6 funnels of 277 atoms 1662
Central globe 57
----
Total 1719
----
Atomic weight 93.25
Number weight 1719/18 95.50
III a.—Aluminium, gallium and indium were examined from this group. They are triatomic, diamagnetic, and positive. The corresponding group contains phosphorus, arsenic and antimony: bismuth also belongs to it, but was not examined; they are triatomic, diamagnetic and negative. They have no central globes.
Aluminium
(
, 1), the head of the group, is, as usual, simple. There are six similar funnels, each containing eight ovoids, below which is a globe.
ALUMINIUM: 6 funnels of 81 atoms 486
Atomic weight 26.91
Number weight 486/18 27.00
Gallium
(
, 2) has two segments in every funnel; in the segment to the left a "cigar" balances a globe, equally six-atomed, in that of the right, and the globes to right and left are four-atomed as against three-atomed. In the next row, the smaller contained globes have six atoms as against four, and the cones have respectively seven and five. By these little additions the left-hand funnel boasts one hundred and twelve atoms as against ninety-eight.
GALLIUM: Left segment 112 atoms }
Right segment 98 " } = 210
6 funnels of 210 atoms 1260
----
Atomic weight 69.50
Number weight 1260/18 70.00
Indium
(
, 3) repeats the segments of gallium exactly, save in the substitution of a sixteen-atomed body for the seven-atomed cone of the left-hand segment, and a fourteen-atomed body for the five-atomed corresponding one in gallium. But each funnel now has three segments instead of two; three funnels out of the six contain two segments of type A and one of type B; the remaining three contain two of type B, and one of type A.
INDIUM: Segment A 121 atoms
Segment B 107 "
3 funnels of 2 A and 1 B ([242 + 107] 3) 1047
3 " " 2 B and 1 A ([214 + 121] 3) 1005
----
Total 2052
----
Atomic weight 114.05
Number weight 2052/18 114.00
The corresponding negative group, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony, run on very similar lines to those we have just examined.
Phosphorus
(
, 1) offers us a very curious arrangement of atoms, which will give some new forms in breaking up. Two segments are in each funnel, in fact the only two of group III
a
which do not show this arrangement, or a modification thereof, are aluminium and arsenic.
PHOSPHORUS: Left segment 50 atoms
Right segment 43 "
--
93
6 funnels of 93 atoms 558
Atomic weight 30.77
Number weight 558/18 31.00
Arsenic
(
, 2) resembles aluminium in having eight internal sub-divisions in a funnel, and the ovoids which form the top ring are identical, save for a minute difference that in aluminium the ovoids stand the reverse way from those in arsenic. It will be noted that in the former the top and bottom triangles of atoms have the apices upwards, and the middle one has its apex downwards. In arsenic, the top and bottom ones point downwards, and the middle one upwards. Arsenic inserts sixteen spheres between the ovoids and globe shown in aluminium, and thus adds no less than one hundred and forty-four atoms to each funnel.
ARSENIC: 6 funnels of 225 atoms 1350
Atomic weight 74.45
Number weight 1350/18 75.00
Antimony
(
, 3) is a close copy of indium, and the arrangement of types A and B in the funnels is identical. In the middle rings of both A and B a triplet is substituted for a unit at the centre of the larger globe. In the lowest body of type A the "cigar" has vanished, and is represented by a seven-atomed crystalline form.
ANTIMONY: Segment A 128 atoms
Segment B 113 atoms
3 funnels of 2 A and 1 B ([256 + 113]3) 1107
3 " " 2 B and 1 A ([226 + 128]3) 1056
----
Total 2163
----
Atomic weight 119.34
Number weight 120.16