raising these bodies yet one step further, the falling away of the walls
sets the contained atoms free, and we reach the ultimate physical atom, the
matter of E 1. The disintegration of this sets free particles of astral
matter, so that we have reached in this the limit of physical matter. The
Theosophical reader will notice with interest that we can thus observe
seven distinct substates of physical matter, and no more.

The ultimate atom, which is the same in all the observed cases, is an
exceedingly complex body, and only its main characteristics are given in
the diagram. It is composed entirely of spirals, the spiral being in its
turn composed of spirillæ, and these again of minuter spirillæ. A fairly
accurate drawing is given in Babbitt's "Principles of Light and Colour," p.
102. The illustrations there given of atomic combinations are entirely
wrong and misleading, but if the stove-pipe run through the centre of the
single atom be removed, the picture may be taken as correct, and will give
some idea of the complexity of this fundamental unit of the physical
universe.

Turning to the force side of the atom and its combinations, we observe that
force pours in the heart-shaped depression at the top of the atom, and
issues from the point, and is changed in character by its passage; further,
force rushes through every spiral and every spirilla, and the changing
shades of colour that flash out from the rapidly revolving and vibrating
atom depend on the several activities of the spirals; sometimes one,
sometimes another, is thrown into more energetic action, and with the
change of activity from one spiral to another the colour changes.

The building of a gaseous atom of hydrogen may be traced downward from E 1,
and, as stated above, the lines given in the diagram are intended to
indicate the play of the forces which bring about the several combinations.