11

states in this limit. This leads again to certain general con-

siderations about the connection between the probability of
a transition between any two stationary states and the mo-
tion of the system in these states, which will be shown to
throw light on the question of the polarisation and intensity
of the different lines of the spectrum of a given system.
In the above considerations we have by an atomic system
tacitly understood a number of electrified particles which
move in a field of force which, with the approximation men-
tioned, possesses a potential depending only on the position
of the particles. This may more accurately be denoted as
a system under constant external conditions, and the ques-
tion next arises about the variation in the stationary states
which may be expected to take place during a variation of
the external conditions, e. g. when exposing the atomic sys-
tem to some variable external field of force. Now, in general,
we must obviously assume that this variation cannot be cal-
culated by ordinary mechanics, no more than the transition
between two different stationary states corresponding to con-
stant external conditions. If, however, the variation of the
external conditions is very slow, we may from the necessary
stability of the stationary states expect that the motion of
the system at any given moment during the variation will
differ only very little from the motion in a stationary state
corresponding to the instantaneous external conditions. If
now, moreover, the variation is performed at a constant or
very slowly changing rate, the forces to which the particles
of the system will be exposed will not differ at any moment