The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1903-07-02


X LUMP of pitchblende Is not
~ q very attractive thing. One
~ may pass it casually In the
museum without seeing any
reason to take particular interest in
the greenish or brownish black masses
that cluster together like grapes. But
some of the most fascinating specula-
tons that have lately been made In
physical laboratories invest pitch
blende with tremendous interest, as
the source of a.mysterious form OF en-
ergy that t~ranscends all our ideas on
the subject, and may possibly point
the way to a new source Of power
that VIII revolutionize our industries.
The remarkable discovery of Sir
William Crookes whereby the lions"
or atomic emafations from radlum,
have been rendered visible, viii renew
and deepen interest In this mysterious
source of energy. 1t is now estab.
lished, according to Professor Llpp-
mann, of the Sorbonne-who carried
as much weight in France az did the
late Professor Rowland in this country
that radium, one of the most re-
Gently discovered elements, has the
power of continually generating heat
without the aid CT any external source
Of energy.
The chief interest OF these new
Radioactive clements lies Mt present
in the rather paradoxlcal light that
they throw on the problems Of physi-
cal science. 1t is quite possible that,
like their immediate predecessors, the
Roentgen rays and the Hertz waves,
these Becquerel rays may also be
pressed into the service of mankind.
And 1t is worth while to inquire into
their nature and probable significance.
Many years ago 1t was noticed that a
coin or q sheet Of print, If shut up IN q
dark box at close quarters, though
not in actual contact with q sheet of
blank paper, would, after many days,
be found to have impressed on it a
faint image Of itself. Soma people
attributed these markings to super
human agencies, and called them
spirit photographs" Seguin, who hit
on the true explanation more by good
luck than good guldance.sw was laughed
at whom he suggested the compare
lively prosaic theory that the coin or
the printing Ink must be continually
giving off a stream of tiny particles
which In time produced an impress
sion on the paper that they were bonn
harding.
A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY.
For long the question fell into abey-
ance, though we now see that 1t con
tained the germs of a very remarkable
discovery. That was reserved for NJ.
Henri BecQuerel. In 1896 he was
carrying out some experiments with
the salts OF uranium, which. were
noted for their singular optical prop
critics. They are chiefly known to or
binary people by the beautiful and
golden uranium glass;" which is used
In porcelain painting. AS so often
happens to scientific investigators, NJ.
BecQuerel was rewarded for his labor
by the discovery Of a new set of facts
OF which he had no suspicion; like
Saul, he went to look for his fathers
asses and found a kingdom.
He observed that these uranium
salts emitted an invisible radiation,
which-llke the newly discovered Ro-
entgen rays-traversed metals and
other bodies impervious to ordinary
light, and left an impression on a
Photographic plate. Thus, "a crystal
of any uranium salt was placed inside
o darken6d cardboard box along with
an ordinary Photographic plate in its
closed slide. 1t was then found that
the rays given out by the crystal,
although invisible to the eye, stamped
themselves on the plate. If IN object,
such as q copper cross. was interposed
between the crystal and the plate, Its
image was photographed in shadow,
very much like the Roentgen 'skia-
graph"