Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-01-07
THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE.
Basis For Belief In It's Reality May
Perhaps He Found In Radfum.


Paracelsus, the arch magician of the
dark ages, announced that there
abides In nature certain form Of mat
ter which, being discovered and brought
by art to perfection, converts to itself
proportionally all imperfect bodies that
it touches" Following this definition
of the philosophers "stone" came Pc
Rod of mysticism and charlatanry'
swaying the world with the belief that
the baser metals might be changed to
gold. 1t is strange, therefore, that the
formula of Paracelsus should express
with precision the conclusions adopted
by modern chemist no less skeptical
and distinguished than Sir William
Ramsay. who in Harper's Magazine
makes known his opinion that the
"stone" may actually have been found
In the piercing and transmitting cleo
irons of radium.
This opinion Is not yet belief, and
the conclusions are but tentative. Pro
lessor Ramsay assures us, however,
that they constitute working hypoth-
esis. In 1868 NJ. Jansen, the French
astronomer, discovered an unknown ell
emcnt. afterward named helium, In the
chromosphere of the sun during an
eclipse. Ramsay In 1895 found and
identified this element on the earth.
Only lately he has ascertained, with
the aid of other scientists, the aston
fishing fact that the electrons OF the
element radium-which are exceeding
" minute particles, shot off with enor-
nous velocity-when acting upon glass
change. dlsintegrate and build up
new atoms of similar radio active ele-
ments. notably helum. 1t Is legiu'
mate inference, declares Sir william
Ramsay, that If the atoms Of ordinary
elements could be made to absorb en-
ergy they would undergo change OF a
constructive and not OF disruptiye
nature" If, as looks probable, he
maintains, the action of the electrons
themselves the conveyors OF enormous
energy, on such matter as glass Is te
build I'D atoms which are radio active
and IF 1t be found that the particular
matter produced depends on the ele
ment" on which the electrons fall ane
to which they impart their energy
then the transmutatlon Of elements
no longer appears an idle dream" H'
says further:
The philosophers stone will have beer
discovered. and II Is not beyond TN
bounds Of possibility that II may lead U
that other goal of the philosophers OF IN
dark ages the elixir vitae. for the 40
ton OF living cells Is also Dependent oi
, the nature and direction OF the energ,
which they contain, and who can sa,
that It will be impossib' to control thei
action when the mes Of imparting AM
controlling enerl 81 Il have been inves
) tigated?
) Transmutation appears to be a fac
. I'm at least one instance. 1t is almos
certain that radium, itself an element
changes into various other elements
Moreover, it's life in its present form
is a comparatively short one, and !
= must therefore be in course Of forma
ton. else the amount would be exhaust
9 ed in about $500 years. The infer
: ence may not be resisted that not TIL
5 element merely, but several elements
: are undergoing a spontaneous chang
/ into other forms of matter, themselve
t highly energized, and themselves III
= stable. Men already control the proc
4 ess Of transmitting radlum. Have the
o indeed penetrated the secret at tn
i foundation Of the forms Of matter an
l. slife?-New York Times.