Confussion

Confusion / fusion / fission

Fusion: A nuclear reaction in which nuclei combine to form more massive nuclei with the simultaneous release of energy.

Fission: Nuclear fission (in nuclear physics, simply fission) is a process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller nuclei (fission products) and usually some by-product particles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission

"Confussion" combines 'con-' (together; with; joint; jointly: commingle) with 'fusion' (combining) and 'fission' (breaking apart) and of course 'confusion'. This coincidence of opposites fits well with the Physics of the time; Einstein had fused Space and Time giving us the (Joycean) portmanteu word 'spacetime'; and Max Planck (and others) had published revolutionary findings on the strange nature of subatomic particles. In Quantum Mechanics subatomic particles exist in uncertain states where they are both waves and particles.

"general uttermosts confussion": 'general' here could allude to Einstein's 'General Theory of Relativity'.