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.
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.