Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-05-29
NEW SECRET OF NATURE.
Things About Curious Radium and lts
Strange Energy.

with current technical literature. The
more II is studied. however, the more
remarkable it becomes from every
point of view. and the results of recent
experiments with It are so startling
and threaten to undermine so many of
what have come to be regarded as the
basic truths of physics that even those
for whom radium has no immediate or
practical interest should be advised of
its surprising phenomena. At the mo-
ment pitchblcnde is the storm center Of
scientific controversy and the focal
point of scientific interest. In it may
lie a new source of power which will
revolutionize not only mechanics but
possibly physics and chemistry as well.
Up to quite recently radium was re-
garded much as calcium chloride had
been in the days when luminous paint
was a curiosity. 1t was known to pos
sess the power of radiant light, but was
supposed to possess this quality by
reason of the fact that it had absorbed
light from the suns rays. The eX-
tremely interesting discovery of Sir
William Crookes that the ions, or at
omic carnations. from radium could
be rendered visible changes the point
of view from which this extraordinary
mineral must be regarded. Professor
IiDpman, of the Sorbonne, whose
standing in France is equivalent to
that of Lord Kelvin or Lord RayleiGh
in England secms to have established
the fact that radum has the power of
continually generating heat without
drawing upon any external source OF
energy. If this be true, everyone with
the least or most superficial knowledge
of rhysicS will see at Il glance that this
phenomenon gives us a new science ana
Compels a revision of our accepted ideas
on many subjects. AS has frequently
happened before, CrOokes' discovery
Of the heat generating properties OF
radium, while it comes like reVela-
ton, is merely the recognition of prop
critics inherent in many kinds OF mat
ter and previously suspected, II not
accurately described. The difference
appears to be that radium possesses
these properties in higher degree than
any other substance at present known.
Some. with Il taste for excursions into
the bypnths of scientific literature, VIII
perhaps recall the CONGRATULATIONS OF
Scgun in explanation of q phenomenon
which had puzzled the physicists.
IL was noticed many years ago that
q coin of a print, if shut up in Il box in
proximity to- though it may not be in
contact with. a sheet of blank paper,
was found in time to have impressed its
own image ,lpon the blank sheet by
process of photography chiefly, If not
exclusively, operative in the absence of
solar light These pictures were at
first regarded as profound mysteries.
rxrlainable only by assuming that
s,iperhuman agencies had produced
them. Seguin suggested the eXplana-
ton that the bodies capable of produce
ing this phenomenon did SO by giving
off a stream of impalpahle PARTICLES
projected from themselves with high
velocity, and that these particles were
capable of producing an impression
upon what they bomb1rded. his
hypothesis was received with hilarlty
by the physicists, to whom the ldea Oh
such a radiation of matter, even IN IN
finite attenuation. going on forever
without any sensible loss of weight or
hulk in the mass drawn upon, Was IN
conceivable. For that matter, it is IN
conceivable still. but it is becoming
evident that Seguin discovered TN"
only explanation of a series OF phe-
nomena which find their highest known
development in the behavior of uranium
aud radium. The matter was practl-
cally forgotten until 1896, when Bee
uuere in the course of some interest
ing and important experiments WIN tne
salts of uranium. observed mat they
maintained a constant radlatloh. ina.
the rays thus given off possessed IN
common with the H-rays of KoentSeh
the astonishing power oil passing
through substances distinctly opaque
1,nf
thus transmitted through plates of
metal for example. were able 20 make
y distinct impression uopn Il sensitive
plate which would he acted upon by the
actinic rays of solar light. If a small
mass of uranium was inclosed in a
light. tight box with a Photographic
plate, and an Opaque object WAS inter
posed between them, the form of thai
object was distinctly reproduced upon
the plate as in the shadow pictures OF
the Rocntgen skiagraphs. The novel
feature of the uranium salts was that
apparently no exciting cause was need
cd to produce or maintain it, In the
case of the RCentgen rays the appllca-
ton of external energy is necessary to
excite the vacuum tube and produce the
Nradiation. Uranium, however, has
this energy within itself. Its radiation
appears to go on continuously, and Is
apparently unaffected by any treatment
to which the crystal is subjected, such
as heating, identification or solution III
acid.
If this he true-and all observations
thus far made warrant the belief thai
it is--the axiom of physics that all
energy is but the mechanical equiva-
lent of energy previously eXcrted to
produce it, and that all work is but a
credit to balance a debit previously re-
corded would seem to need revision
The later experiments of Becquerel, and
of NJ and Nine Curie, with uranium
and the last addition to the group OF
elements found in association with it,
radium, give us phenomena which IN
relation to other phenomena, so uni
versal as to warrant the formulation of
laws which have thus far not only
passed iunthallenged, but have salts
factorily accounted for pretty much
everything dynamical, may very vel