The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-07-26
New Substance Radium De-
veIops Some Startling Facts.
ELECTRICITY Is EXPLAINED
Peculiar Properties of the
Matter Are Treated of.

In France woman, Nine. Cure by name.
found time from her household duties
recently 10 go searching for some new
facts of science The result of her search
was radiurn, that wonderful substance
which has set the scientific world by the
ears.
The peculiar properties of radium made
necessary a complete reconstruction Of
several well known theories of life or
matter as it exists on and off this planet
of ours, and the most startling results
| are promised by the scientific dreamers.
| Radium they say, is the evidence or
atomic subdivision, a new source of ener-
gy, light without heat, the key to the
| transmutation of substances. the evidence
of the disintegration of matter the an
swer to the problem What is electric
| ity," etc. and now ii is asserted on high
| authority that radium not only explains
many heretofore mystifying astronomical
phenomena, such as the aurora borealis.
| but proves that the earth is really
| comet with at least three tails.
| Such a statement would be highly alb
surd we're it not for the credence given 1t
in high quarters and for the highly prob
| able sequence OF facts that support the
| theory. And If any doubt remains in
the mind of the reader he or she is re-
| frred to that last resort of the incredu-
lous. ocular proof, for it is said that you
| may see these fiery streamers which
| shoot out from the earth if you know
where to look for them.
| Before it is possible to prove that the
earth is a comet II will be necessary to
| explain some of the properties of radium
and what they reveal. Rsdium is sub
stance which shoots off particles of itself
| constantly into space. The loss in weight
| to the substance Is slight that even
| after the lapse of several million years
| the most delicate balance would not be
| able TO detect It. Yet countless millions
OF these particles have the radum salt
constantly and have been doing so since
the beginning of the world. which proves
for one thing that the particles are in
| fntesimaly small So small are they that
the atom, the old fashioned smallest
| particle is huge by comparison. In
fact. It is now believed that atoms are
| composed of myriads of still smaller par
| ticles of corpuscles.
| These corpuIses are in a state of con-
slant motion and go jumping about
| through the atom, colliding with one an
| other and carroming here and there, as
| though the atom were as big as the uni
verse. An atom is a universe on small
/ scale, and the corpuscles move in it much
as the planets move through the larger
| universe These corpuscles are negatively
! and positively sufficient to keep the atom
intact But sometimes the corpuscles es-
| cape from the atom. They are emitted
| when objects are struck by cathode rays;
when the negative electrode in the
| Crookes tube Is operated; they are emit
ted from hot bodies, such as glowing met
ais; from cold metals under the influence
| of ultraviolet substances. sue has radi-
UNI. These corpusces are one thousand
| times smaller than the hydrogen atom.
and each. carrying q charge of negative
| electricity. is discharged with incredible
velocity into space.
! Professor J. j. Thomson one of the
highest authorities on the subject of ra-
| dio-activity said recently:
| LAS a very hot metal emits these cor
puscles it does not seem an impossible
| hypothesis that they are emitted by that
very hot body. the sun. Thus. on this
view, interplanetary space is thronged
with corpuscular traffic. rapidly moving
corpuscles coming out from the sun while
more slowly moving ones. repealed by the
earth's negative charges. are streaming
( into it
! on the basis of this assertion Professor
]
| Arrhenius Paulsen and others. explains
! how it IS possible for the earth to have
| fiery streamers resembling those of a
comet and how we have really been able
! TO see these tails for years without be-
ing aware of their significance
Not only is the sun the source of erup-
tons of rodinary matter says Professor
Cox but We have every reason TO be-
lieve that he must emit streams Of cleo
trically charged corpuscles. both directly
as a hot body and indirectly since the
electrical discharges which. according to
all terrestrial analogies. must accompany
the violent chemical actions going on
near his surface will when they take
place in the higher and rarer regions of
his atmosphere. give rise to cathode rays.
and these in turn 10 Roentgen rays.
Following the career Of the particles
which are discharged into space We
should find that they proceed outward
from the sun above the region of sun
spots with a speed that increases up TO
finite limit al certain distance from
the sun When they encounter another
body. the esrrth. for instance. they charge
its outer atmosphere negatively until this
charge becomes strong enough to repel
them. Then the oncoming rush viii be
DETECTED and stream pas the earth or
behind the earth viii be screened by her.
and SO be void OF corpuscles"
Before proceeding further with Profess
sor Cox's descripton. ii should b borne
IN mind that the corpuscies which are
emitted from radium become luminous
when brought into contact with solid
bodies under certain conditions He SAYS:
Gould We take our stand on the moon.
we should shus see the earth attended By
faint double tail with a dark dividing
line immediately behind Il. pointing from
the sun. and a similar though fainter tan
pointing toward him
II other words. tire contact q the mp
idly moving stream 81 corPuscies with
the earth should make shem luminous
At The edge a the sphere pss1 which ther
shoot into spsce Furthermore. as Pro-
fessor Cox points on; the earth herself
helps 10 Increase the volume % the Iun-
inescence. because SIS tire negative charge
Of the sphere becon - strong enough. & r.
49,