Abstract
OF the elements and their compounds there is a general property which is related to the peculiarities of their periodicity in a remarkable manner. This property is that of crystallisation, and in the isometric system is seen in its least complicated form. Among the conceivable causes which might act to produce the regular arrangement of particles evidenced in crystals, the view that considers the atom as having eight fields of polarity radiating from it, corresponding to the eight corners of a cube or the eight faces of an octahedron, agrees well with a wide range of facts. When an isometric crystal is heated and cooled under suitable conditions, polarity is developed in this manner. Four of the centres of polarity are positive and four are negative; the angle between the direction of like poles is 109° 28′.
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HEALY, F. Octopolarity and Valence. Nature 70, 318 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/070318a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/070318a0
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