A model of nuclear shape oscillations is set up for an arbitrary nuclear charge distribution. For a uniform charge distribution the model reduces to the liquid drop model. The model is used to consider ?-transitions and electron excitation of nuclei. Explicit expressions are obtained for four charge distributions: (a) uniform, (b) Gaussian, (c) exponential, (d) uniform with Gaussian "edge". The theory predicts a relative angular distribution of electrons scattered by the 4�43 MeV level of 12C in agreement with the experimental results of Fregeau and Hofstadter (1955), but gives a scattered intensity seven times too large.