Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-02-08
ItSAIII 10 W. iIIHu
81
A New FpTm Of Radiant Energy
With This Property.
INVISIBLE RAYS MADE LUMINOUS
Discovery viii Shortly Have
Practical Uses.
TIL EO RY SCRIB E D
Written fer The Evening Star.

1
| which is without heat. His discovery is the
result of an experiment made with certain
| chemical substances which have long been
known to radiate mysterious energy, the
source of which scientific men have not
| succeeded in tracing This form of energy
! well known under the name of Becquerel
rays after the French scientist who discov-
| cred it, has always manifested its presence
In much the same manner as ordinary light
| except in the one important feature of not
| being visible. For instance, pilot ographs
| could be made with the rays If sensitive
plates were left exposed to their influence
| in dark rooms, but no one had been able
| heretofore to see the rays. Professor Hal
| lock hit upon a plan for rendering them
visible, and as they emanate from thou
sands of substances the discovery is i'm
portant Again, while the experiment was
strictly a laboratory test, and was. there
FORE conducted on small scale, the prin-
ciple of procedure has been established,
| and, as Professor Hallock says, it only re-
mains for the industrial investigators to
place the discovery on a commercial basis.
What follows was obtained from Professor
Hallock in hts laboratory while the expert
ment was being made.
I'm the first place." said Professor Hal
lock, cit must be conceded that the word
darkness is only relative term. There are
very few places in the world that abso-
lutely dark in the true sense of the word.
The number of substances which are cay,a-
BILE of storing sunlight all day and then
emitting 1t at night is very great. 1t may
be that all substances are capable of doing
1t to greater or less extent. During the
last five years the inveStigati ton of the en-
| ergy of such substances has been very ex
tended. Professor McKissick of Auburn,
Ala made experiments with many common
substances, such as sugar, glucose and
chalk, and was able to make photographs
with the energy that emanated from them
after they had been exposed to the sun all
day. Professor McKissick and his assist
| ants also found that many strictly chemical
substances were possessed of this power of
storing energy. French scientists gave the
subject special attention and Becquerel
achieved fame in this line. He discovered
that uranium salts do not need sunlight
from which to draw energy, but are all the
time giving off radiations which are X-ray
| IN quality in that they will pass through
OPAQUE bodies and affect Photographic
plates on the other side.
Mckissick placed some coins and keys
on plate holder containing a Photographic
plate. In theseshe placed q piece of wood
212 inches thick. On the wood he placed
some common brown sugar which had been
allowed to absorb sunlight and he covered
all with black cloth and left them in a
dark room for some hours. When exposed
it was found that the energy from the
sugar had passed though the wood and the
cover of the plate holder and had photo
graphed the metal objects on the sensitive
place. Becquerel discovered that uranium
salts were capable of performing quite as
wonderful feats, but that their energy
seemed to be an initial energy. At least
it was not due to stored sunlight.
A Woman's Discovery.
'"Then came Nine Curie a woman scien-
list working in Paris, who discovered the
radio+actiyity Of thorium and afterward of
pitchblende. Working with her husband
she succeeded in extracting from pitch
| bende, substance named polonum, which
proved to be at least 100000 times more
radioactive than uranium. Out of pitch
| bende still other substances were obtained,
| such as radium and actinium. So far, no
one has been able to discover the cause of
these rays. Although invisible they have
| manifested their presence very positively
| in other ways. They will affect photo
| graphic plates in the dark. Radium rays
! will turn ordinary white glass to brown
ora violet tint and like X-rays have caused
| Inflammation when applied to the human
| skin.
| Lord Kelvin has shown that some of
| these rays are capable not only of con-
| Quoting an electric current, but that they
are capable of generating a current. He
| connected a plate of copper and plate of
| zinc by means of wire and then exposed
| the two plates to uranium rays. The mo-
ment this was done, an electric current be-
| gan to flow along the wire. Prof Pegram
| quoting Becquerel says the velocity of the
! but that the waste is so small that the
| loss from So. en-. of surface would be
| something like a nlfligram in a thousand
million wears. Heat or cold, high or low
pressure. does not affect them. So that
taking them all in all they constitute the
most wonderful physical phenomena within
| our observation at the present time
Now you know that N-rays were long
Invisible until tungstate of calcium was
used in the Horoscope to make them vis-
ble 1t occurred to me that some similar
substance might be combined with these
products of pitchblende to make them vis-
BILE After some consideration I fixed upon
! platino-barium-cya nide. I tried It with the
| salts The experiment was a success. 1
was able to see the light But come with
| me to the dark room and see for your
| SELF
Interesting Experiments.
| He picked UP shallow paper box, the
size of watch crystal, containing a small
quantity of white powder. Near it lay what
looked like a piece Of greenish-yellow
pasteboard. He carried these into the dark
room and laid them on the table. The room
and it's furniture were painted black and
every chink and crevice had been stopped
up to prevent the slightest ray of light
from entering. once the door was shut.
| seThis powder Is the radio active SUBJ
stance" said Prof. Hallocl. when we were
| ready for the test. LAS this yellow card Is
the barium- cyanide. shall merely lay it
on top of the box of salts. The salts would
be invisible ordinarily, but when their rays
| flowing upward strike the barium-cyanide
| the latter will take a glow. First, how
ever we must get used to the darkness"
| He closed the door, and absolute dark
ness resulted The writer closed his eyes
to hasten their accommodation to the new
| condition, but as it seemed to make no diff
! ference whether they We're open or closed
he opened them again and strove nightly
to see the expected new light.
/ "It Is remarkable how quickly the eve
will accommodate itself to conditions of
relative darkness" said Prof Hallock
| "When wasiI1the governmental astro-phy-
+ steal laboratory in Washington I was able
| after a while to work and even to make
/ copious notes In a room so dark that "a
/ stranger entering from the outside would
stumble over the furniture heiplesslv and
Iflounder around generally until we led him
/ to chair. The darkness, however Is very
necessary forsI am now using the least
rather than the most energetic of the ac-
tive salts And you must not be disap-
lpointed ifsyou re7not able to read a news
paper with it. am here striving to estab-
/ fish a scientific principle; the industrial de-
yelopment of sft Is quite another matter
EBut Isbegin to see the glow now; do you
not see 1t 2"
Rapid Disappearance.
/ did see it. 1t gradually grew from an