New-York tribune., 1903-03-22

PROGRESS

concluded that the cathode threw off particles,
not simply light waves. Hence he called the
emanation radiant matter For long time
that theory vigorously antagOniZed by the
scientific men wl-O supposed to know most
about such things but it has recently met with
many confirmation that it may be regarded
as fairly well proved. That one discovery alone
might not have counted for much though. had
it not afforded a clew TO others more significant
and far reaching.
Sir William studied only what took place in
side a vacuum tube R0ntgen made the acci-
dental discovery that something else happened
outside. An invisible radiation, apparently
caused by the impact of the cathode rays upon
the glass, possessed singular penetration, and
would go through many substances which are
opaque to ordinary light. and were then power
full enough to act upon a Photographic sersI-
tive plate just as light does. Here indeed. was
a marvel which common people we'll as
scientists could recognize, even if they could
not understand. For a time there was an
earnest discussion of the question whether the
rHys are ether waves, CT such and such 4 fire.
quency, or particles of matter. OF late the jat-
ter notion has been widely accepted. in spite OF
the difficulty of explaining how the particles
could be shot through the glass
BecQuerel seems to have been the first to no
tce that certain rare minerals, containing salts
of uranium, would affect Photographic plat
and also cause substances to glow family that
possessed d previously known susceptibility, that
of fuorescence. Another French chemist, Mime.
Curie, discovered only two three years ago
that what seemed to be element could TIE
isolated from the uranium salts, and possessed
in remarkable degree the radiating power just
described. To this substance she gave the nama
"r;dium' 1t has been used as q substitute for
Y ray tubes in surgery, but is too powerful II
be r.anag bic. Sir William CrOokes remarked u
few weeks ago that a gram 05IZ grainS) OF
"electrons," OF particles thrown off by radiation
from i piece of radium. represented an aggregate"
projcctIe force sufficient lift the whole Brit
ish fleet to the top of Ben Nevis
y comparatively unimDortant announcement
of I.nglishnlan named Russell. made five
SIX years ago thus derives si&nificIurc. He do
rlur-I that large variety Of objects. notably
1 books emitted Il feeble radiation which would
affect Photographic plates. Tho imln' diate Irar-
ti.-,,l vaIjIe of this revelation was to clear UP
much Of the mysterious ''fogging Of plates kEt
in stnci, too long. hut it ais" had d theoretical
;,lI3, for prur. Who have been studying the
questions here discussed. Finally, Professor J.
j. Thomson. of Cambridge. University, ~
tn" foremost investigators Of vacuum tuus
phruumcna now declares that all objects on thu
surface, of the earth which possess radioactive
powers are Cdthud"S (Ikc tn negative terminus:
in Il vacuum tubcl, and that cathode rays are
onnipr, sent the carth's surface--a sweeping
assertion, but c!nanlting from of the high
rst living authorities. Professor Thomson, by
the way, is the man who thought that h. hal
discovered Particles much smaller than Hto"
These he calls "corpusclts' while Sir William
Croukes dubs them 'rIcctruus,' Earriers G
electric charges.
In Il lecture recently delivered by Sir oliver
Lodge before the British Institution of EIcc-
trical Engineers, account of the experiments
conducted by Professor Thomson and two or
three others was given. The size of the electrOn
is still matter of conjecture, and is not fully
stabshed Professor Thomson got at it ma the