So much for its composition. But a very peculiar result, so far unobserved elsewhere, arises from the extraordinarily rapid whirling of the central sphere. A kind of vortex is formed, and there is a constant and powerful indraught through the funnels. By this, particles are drawn in from without, and these are swept round with the sphere, their temperature becoming much raised, and they are then violently shot out through the spikes. It is these jets which occasionally sweep away an atom from the surface of the sphere. These "particles" may be atoms, or they may be bodies from any of the etheric levels; in some cases these bodies break up and form new combinations. In fact lithium seems like a kind of vortex of creative activity, drawing in, breaking up, recombining, shooting forth--a most extraordinary element. RADIUM: 4 funnels of 618 atoms 2472 4 spikes of 199 atoms 796 Central sphere 819 ---- Total 4087 ---- Atomic weight ---- Number weight 4087/18 227.05 [Illustration: PLATE XXIV.] [Illustration: PLATE XXIII.] * * * * * APPENDIX. THE ÆTHER OF SPACE. Much discussion has taken place, especially between physicists and chemists, over the nature of the substances with which all space must, according to scientific hypothesis, be filled. One side contends that it is infinitely thinner than the thinnest gas, absolutely frictionless and without weight; the other asserts that it is denser than the densest solid. In this substance the ultimate atoms of matter are thought to float, like motes in a sunbeam, and light, heat and electricity are supposed to be its vibrations. Theosophical investigators, using methods not at the disposal of physical science, have found that this hypothesis includes under one head two entirely different and widely separated sets of phenomena. They have been able to deal with states of matter higher than the gaseous and have observed that it is by means of vibrations of this finer matter that light, heat and electricity manifest themselves to us. Seeing that matter in these higher states thus performs the functions attributed to the ether of science, they have (perhaps unadvisedly) called these states etheric, and have thus left themselves without a convenient name for that substance which fulfils the other part of the scientific requirements.