Joseph John Thomson

“ The most natural explanation of these rays is that the hot salts from which they originate act like fused electrolytes, and that the current through them into the discharge tube is carried by the ions into which the salts dissociate, the positive ion, which is a charged atom of the metallic constituent of the salt, following the current will come to the surface of the anode, will get detached from it, and under the influence of the strong electric field which exists in the gas close to the anode will acquire the high velocity characteristic of the anode rays. ”

“ The anode was a rod of salt placed inside a glass tube so that only the front of it was exposed to the tube; the cathode was an aluminium ring encircling the anode, the pressure was reduced to a very small value by the use of carbon cooled by liquid air. With the discharge from a powerful induction coil, or still better from a large electrostatic induction machine, the anode got hot without the aid of an auxiliary heating current, and a bright stream of rays came from the end of the salt anode ”