Evening star., 1901-09-14

provokes inflammation of the skin I'm q
short time, and persistent exposure dis
organizes the human tissue profoundly.
Newest Substances.
The strange properties Of these SUBJ
stances are becoming known little by little.
Just as the X-rays were found to divide
themselves up into more particular rays
OF very different character, so these radia-
tions are complex and multiple Thus
europium, the newest of these sister SUBJ
stances, discovered only within the last
month, sends out strong violet and ultra
violet rays. NJ. and Nine. Curie have
demonstrated that the radations of radi-
UNI itself are Identical with the cathode
rays. they charge negatively the bodies
which they strike, while radium I'm the
same time charges Itself with positive cleo
tricity; Professor Beauerel had shown
that the radiations of radium propagate
themselves-like the cathode rays-with a
speed equal to half the speed of light
M ana Nine. Curie were able to collect
oyer oyer a good-sized piece of radium gas
that piackened mercury and possessed in
tense secondary radio-activity. 1t is true
that this gas lost its radiant power at
the erd OF a short time. Then came the
strangeSt discovery of all A quantity of
radium sealed up in glass tube was placed
In a glass vessel fun of water At the end
Oh a Few hours the water took on intense
radlo-activity. even greater than the origi-
nal radio activity of the radium itself How
and why this happens and what 1t NAV
ieao TO no one In the world knows 1t IL
the last word of exact science with re-
the moment.
What are these substances and why do
they SO differ from all other matter, as we
Know 1t? While possessed of numerous
names and qualities they seem to be all
klnored substances.
Strange Gas.
This gas, helium, when once isolated. ut
terly refuses TO npita with
stance, and fees the earth the moment If
Is liberated. The other strange substances
with which 1t is so often found and with
which alone 1t may be found willing to
unlte-radium, polonium, etc-send off ra-
diatlons that travel with half the velocity
OF light They, too, leave the earth, the
tiny particles of these emanations. They
have properties possessed by no other
earthly matter-in contradiction with all
that is supposed of earthly matter. May
they not really be outsiders from some
other planet? That strange planet may
have been broken up millions of years ago.
A part OF 1t may have come into collision
with our earth, or with the solar mass be-
fore our earth was thrown off from It.
These foreign substances would then be
scattered through earths matter, still
possessing, family perhaps, the old quail
ties which made that strange planet such a
wonder.
Imagine what a world would be like did
1t possess radum, for example, I'm the pro-
portion that the clay of this world holds
aluminium. Human life, as we know 1t,
would be impossible on such a planet From
the ground would come continual and
ending radations, some light-giving, some
invisible of chemical or-to it's inhabitants
even vital energy. It's inhabitants might
be fed by such emanations. They might
receive intelligence from them. They
might have developed organs capable Of
prufting by them in ways we cannot dream
of. All this shows us that it might be dan
gerous-could we do ito go exploring
other worlds in interstellar space
STERLING HEILIG.