1. In every atom is an essential kernel which remains unaltered in ordinary chemical changes and which possesses an excess of positive charges corresponding in number to the ordinal number of the group in the periodic table to which the element belongs.
2. The atom is composed of the kernel and an outer atom or shell, which in the case of the neutral atom, contains negative electrons equal in number to the excess of positive charges of the kernel, but the number of electrons in the shell may vary during chemical change between 0 and 8.
3. The atom tends to hold an even number of electrons in the shell and especially to hold eight electrons which are normally arranged symmetrically at the eight corners of a cube.
4. Two atomic shells are mutually interpenetrable.
4. 二つの原子殻は、相互浸透の関係にある。
5. Electrons may ordinarily pass with readiness from one position in the outer shell to another. Nevertheless they are held in position by more or less rigid constraints, and these positions and the magnitude of the constraints are determined by the nature of the atom and of such other atoms as are combined with it.