Omaha daily bee., 1902-02-09
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Aa4SuwV G new kin Of light which is
without heat. His discovery Is
~ the result Of an experiment made
with certain chemical substances which
have long been known to radiate a mys-
terious energy, the source Of which scien-
tihc men have not succeeded in tracing.
This form Of energy, we'll known under the
name Of Becquerel rays, after the French
scientist who discovered 1t, 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, photographs could be made with
the rays If sensitive plates we're left ex-
posed to their influence in dark rooms, but
no one had been able heretofore to see the
rays. Prof. Hallock hit upon a plan for
rendering them visible and as they emanate
from thousands Of substances, the discov-
cry is important. Again, while the expert
ment was strictly a laboratory test and was
therefore conducted on a small scale, the
principle of procedure has been established
and, as Prof. Hallock says, it only remains
for the industrial investigators to place the
: discovery on a commercial basis. What
follows was obtained from Prof. Hallock in
his laboratory while the experiment was
being made.
Darkness Merely Relative.
"In the first place. said Prof. Hallock,
at must be conceded that the word dark
ness is only a relative term. There are
very few places in the world that are ABB
solutely dark in the true sense Of the word.
The lumber of substances which are ca
pable of storing sunlight all day and then
emitting it at night is very great. 1t
may be that all substances are ca
nah1o nf dnipn AZ tn q uraofor nj lacc ox-
tent. During the last FIVE years the in
vestigation of the energy of such substances
has been very extended. Prof. 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. Prof. McKissick and his
assistants also found that many strictly
chemical substances were possessed Of this
power of storing energy. French scientists
gave the subject special attention and Bee
querel achieved fame in this line. He dis
covered that uranium salts do not need
sunlight from which to draw energy, but
are all the time giving off Iadiations, which
are X-ray in quality in that they will pass
through opaque bodies and affect photo
graphic plates on the other side.
"McKissick placed some coins and keys
on a plateholder containing a Photographic
plate. On these he placed a piece of wood
"a inches thick. On the wood he placed
some common brown sugar which had been
allowed to absorb sunlight and he covered
all with a 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 through the wood and the cover
of the plateholder and had photographed
the metal objects on the sensitive plate.
Becquerel discovered that uranium salts
were capable of performing quite as won
derful feats, but that their energy seemed
to be an initial energy. At least it was
not due to stored sunlight.
Then came Nine. Curie, a woman scien-
list working in Paris, who discovered the