ECHOES FROM THE CHANGING WORLD ATOMIC STRUCTURE IT may be of interest to Theosophical students to know that the latest discoveries with regard to the structure of the atom confirm views propounded in Occult Chemistry. From time immemorial, the craving of the human mind has been to look for unity in diversity. Thus the efforts of science have been to simplify phenomena to the bedrock of the fewest possible assumptions, and, for the innumerable substances to be found on the surface of the earth, the chemist had reached a common basis of eighty odd elements. But this did not satisfy the extremely logical, and theories have not been wanting which claimed a common ancestor for all the ninety elements. Prout put forward such a theory, and suggested that the heavier elements were formed from Hydrogen; but experimental work did not confirm this. On the other hand, it was claimed by the opponents of Prout's theory that if the heavier elements are mere aggregations of Hydrogen atoms, their atomic weights must be multiples of the atomic weight of Hydrogen, or, in other words, whole numbers. This was found, by very accurate work, to be contrary to experimental evidence. Prout's theory thus failed to obtain a hearing. In 1886, Sir William Crookes put forward the view that the Daltonian conception-that all the atoms of an element are exactly alike -might be contrary to fact. He thought that what the chemist calls the atomic weight may be only the average, or rather a statistical and not a real value. The scientists of the time, including Maxwell, turned a deaf ear to his view, but recent events have shown that they were hasty in their decision. Sir J. J. Thomson had devised a method, by positive ray analysis, of finding the atomic weights of elements. He was able to show that although the atomic weights are not absolutely constant for the same element, they are sufficiently constant not to show a measurable discrepancy. Dr. F. W. Aston, working at Cambridge by the same method but with much more refined apparatus, has been able to show that all the atoms of the same element, say Neon, do not have the same weight. The International Table of atomic weights gives the atomic weight of Neon as 20°2. Dr. Aston has shown that this is due to the presence of two kinds of Neon atoms; one with atomic weight 20, the other with 22. In Nature they occur in the proportion of 90 to 10 respectively. When the chemist finds the atomic weight of Neon by the usual methods, he really finds the "statistical average". Dr. Aston has experimented with all the lighter elements, and has shown that all those elements which do not have whole numbers as their atomic weights in the International Table, consist of mixtures of "Isotopes," i.e., elements with the same properties, but with different atomic weights. Dr. Aston has found that all these Isotopes have whole numbers as their atomic weights. The prophecy of Crookes and the acute guess of Prout have therefore been to a certain extent vindicated. These interesting experimental results are clearly understood if the modern theory of atomic structure is taken into account. The electronic theory had led the way for a common basis for all matter, but the discovery of the positive electron or nucleus, or Proton as it is now called, has made it practically certain that all matter is built up from a common brick. This brick is of two kinds: the one with a positive electric charge and very massive, called Proton, and the other with a negative charge and with practically no weight, called Electron. The atom is like a solar system, with the proton as the sun and the electrons as planets. For Hydrogen there is one proton in the nucleus and one electron as the planets. The heavier elements have more protons in the nucleus and a correspondingly larger number of electrons surrounding the nucleus as planets. It is impossible to go into the details of atomic structure in this brief summary, the purpose of which is to draw attention to the confirmation of the view held by the authors of Occult Chemistry. It is a commonplace among students of Theosophy that by aggregations of the ultimate physical atom we arrive at the ultimate chemical atoms, which on further aggregation form the various chemical elements. It may be mentioned here, as among the minor verifications of clairvoyant investigation, that both Sir J. J. Thomson and Dr. F. W. Aston, in the course of their investigations in positive ray analysis, have found "an element with atomic weight 3," not yet named by them, but called "Occultum" by the authors of Occult Chemistry. YADUNANDAN PRASAD THE WONDERFUL REJUVENATION OF CHINA (From "New India") CHINA, whose frontiers guard more land than is covered by the whole of Europe, is emphatically a country of extremes. We have been brought up to think of her people as immovable, but that is merely because the periods between one change and another are so vast that history fades into myth when we try to review them. China, like all the other countries of the world to-day, stands at the parting of the ways, occasioned by the opening of a new cycle; so for once we are able to observe her in the act of changing, and she electrifies us by her lightning methods. The placid mask of her age-long, opium-soaked torpor suddenly drops, and we gaze in amaze at a crowd of boyishly eager people earnestly learning to read and write. Try and imagine what an age-long incubus has been lifted from the mentality of the people. Two years ago a diligent Chinese student of twenty-five could not hope to read and write his mother-tongue as well as can a child of twelve in most countries, for the 43,000 Chinese alphabetical signs made even a moderate mastery the luxury of the scholarly few. To-day anyone can learn to read and write Chinese in a few hours. The Board of Education has invented a national phonetic script alphabet, and thirty-nine signs are all that have to be learnt. Little children vie with their grandparents in the great game of the new alphabet; boys teach their elders, and any old lady who has been fortunate enough to learn the new script is sought after by all the young men and women of the neighbourhood. Books and writing material are at a premium, and many a smoke-blackened wall forms the blackboard, with a piece of plaster fallen from the ceiling for chalk; while, if all else fails, the ancient way of writing with a stick in sand, or even in dust, serves the purpose. Such a change had been thought of before, but it was considered that the ancient script was the bond which united all the widely differing parts of the Chinese Empire, for it had the advantage of being independent of individual vocal languages. Written down, local dialects and tongues could be understood by all literates, and this is probably why Japan clung to the Chinese script. There is no doubt that mighty changes must come about when 400 million people, or even half of them, suddenly begin to read. So much depends upon what they read. A national type of a very high order has been produced by the ancient Chinese philosophies and ethical principles handed on by the literate few to the illiterate masses. Reserved, truthful, earnest and good-natured, their family life formed the basis of their social and political organisation, as in ancient India and in our own day. What they will develop into when the thought of the modern world permeates the interior of China, future generations will record. We can only wish them well, and strongly hope that steady advance on the upward path of evolution may result. A. J. W. Enquiries have been sent in regard to the new phonetic alphabet which the Chinese Board of Education, aided by some distinguished foreign scholars, has devised. We are glad to be able to give thirtynine out of the forty new letters, and regret that we cannot help our readers to learn Chinese by appending the Chinese sounds to the signs. They are taken from the pages of our enterprising contemporary, ㄌㄋㄊㄉ厂 x x x x x The Children's Newspaper, whose Editor aims at keeping the rising complicated alphabet in existence reduced in little more than twelve months from 43,000 signs to 40, is to open up a wonderful world of ancient Chinese literature, as well as to facilitate translations from foreign writers. The British and Foreign Bible Society at one stroke popularised both the new script and the New Testament by printing millions in the new characters and thus meeting a popular demand. and young were eager to learn, and many stories are told of the way in which the new script was spread. At Kuwo, "an old woman of seventy learned to read and write, and taught four young men, who in their turn became teachers". ዓቲረ THE NEW CHINESE ALPHABET From The Children's Newspaper August 13, 1921 Old Arthur Mee writes: "In thousands of cities, people of all ages are learning the new alphabet, and becoming for the first time readers and writers of their native language. Nothing like it, on such a gigantic scale, has ever happened in the history of the world before. The movement has the full support of scholars and the Chinese Government, which has issued an order to its officials to see that the new script is taught everywhere in the schools. It seems too amazing to be true, yet it is a fact that in a very short time practically four hundred million people will have been changed from illiterates into readers and writers." CORRESPONDENCE THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH TO THE EDITOR, "THE THEOSOPHIST" During the last four years a number of attacks have been made on the Liberal Catholic Church. Our Church has not cared to make any direct reply to these attacks. Some came from the Jesuits; some from dissident "Theosophical" organisations in America (whose promoters have for a long time also been attacking the leaders of the Adyar Society and their teachings); some, I regret to say, from our own ranks. Their object was not to ascertain truth, but to calumniate and destroy. Our weightiest answer lay in the work that the Church was doing and in its literature. Many of these inflammatory pamphlets were sent from America to our bodies in different parts of the world, in the endeavour to stir up in the Society one of those periodical disturbances which keep out of its ranks hundreds of splendid people who value the ordinary amenities of civilised life. For the information of Lodges and of our friends a couple of leaflets, bearing on the matters under discussion, were issued three years ago. I now wish to ask the courtesy of your columns to say that those who are interested can obtain a fuller statement, called The Facts regarding the Episcopal Succession. It can be had (4d. post free) from the St. Alban Press, at the following addresses: Guildford, Surrey, England. 4 Raymond Road, Neutral Bay, Sydney, Australia. 2394 Beachwood Drive, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Cal., U.S.A. I have also written an open letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which I take exception to the pronouncements on this subject of the recent Lambeth Conference (of which he was Chairman) and state the facts of the case. This has been published under the title of The Lambeth Conference and the Validity of Archbishop |
