These are the precise phenomena which the calculation foretells: the
analysis of the modifications undergone by the light supplies,
moreover, valuable information on the electron itself. From the
direction of the circular vibrations of the greatest frequency we can
determine the sign of the electric charge in motion and we find it to
be negative. But, further than this, from the variation of the period
we can calculate the relation of the force acting on the electron to
its material mass, and, in addition, the relation of the charge to the
mass. We then find for this relation precisely that value which we
have already met with so many times. Such a coincidence cannot be
fortuitous, and we have the right to believe that the electron
revealed by the luminous wave which emanates from it, is really the
same as the one made known to us by the study of the cathode rays and
of the radioactive substances.
However, the elementary theory does not suffice to interpret the
complications which later experiments have revealed. The physicists
most qualified to effect measurements in these delicate optical
questions--M.
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