ABSTRACT
The word electron was originally employed to designate the atom of electricity or electrolytic unit which is carried by an atom of hydrogen in electrolysis. “The modern idea of the gaseous state is based on the supposition that a given space contains millions of millions of molecules in rapid movement in all directions, each having millions of encounters in a second. The mass of each of the cathode particles is about 11800 of the mass of an atom of hydrogen, the smallest of known atoms. But the properties of the electron seem to have no connection with the nature of the gas through which the discharge takes place, nor with the material of the cathode itself. The glowing nitrogen has remarkable chemical properties. It combines with common phosphorus at the same time producing much red phosphorus. In this behaviour it resembles the halogens, chlorine, bromine, and iodine.
