Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1905-10-24
MUTATIONS OF SCIEECE.
MODERN KNOWLEDGE OPENS UP
NEW PROBLEMS.

Old Conceptions Shaken-Recent Dis.
coveries in Chemistry and Physics
Serve to Call Attention to Our lgnor.
ance on Many Points.
Science, during the last quarter-een-
fury, has enteredrupon the contempla.
ton of new wonders. Such discover
les as the cathode rays, the X-raye
the Becquerel rays and the radie-ac-
tive elements, with their trains OF IL.
| Eliminating phenomena, have shaken
the old conceptions. Students no long
err insist that the atom is the unit oil
matter. Do we not now perceive that
the atom is but a congeries of corpus
Giles? But the corpuscles, then-is
that the unit of matter? Apparently
IL is and yet, says Public Opinion, we
find that the corpuscle is but unit OF
negative electricity, its mass being
due merely to the ether which il
drags along with it in its almost in
conceiyably rapid motion, and the
amount of the mass being measured
In terms of corpuscular velocity. And
the ether, then? No answer yet And
grayitation? No answer yet. And God
and man? No answer. With the com.
passes OF newly-adduced facts scient
lists are tracing the circumference OF
a greater circle OF theory. They are
rearranging the old facts to fit the
new hypothesis. Our knowledge is
-
when the stone is cast into the pool
Yet we do not forget that the truth
is hidden in the stone itself.
The great Importance of the new
knowledge cannot be questioned Let
US note how Professor Duncan sums
it. First describing the three physical
entities. matter, ether, and energy, h.
proceeds to a consideration of mole
cules and atoms. Thus we are
led to ithe properties of an ele.
ment are periodic function of
its atomic weight'') and the high
ly suggestive table of that law,
as formulated by Mendeleef. Eere
we come upon the important discovery
OF the relationship of elements, indicat-
ing inorganic evolution. At this staga
the old knowledge, with its insistence
upon the stability of the atom, fails to
explain. We are at the threshold of
the new knowledge.
Now we come to the discovery of
ions and corpuscles. We find that the
velocity of the corpuscle is between
10000 and 10000 miles a second. We
find that "corpuscles are independent
of the kind of matter from which they
are evolved" that each corpuscle is
thousand times smaller than the
hydrogen atom, which is the smallest
atom known. But we must go farther.
The discovery of natural radio-activity
points the path.
In one of his closing chapters Pro-
fe5sor Duncan defines radio-activity as
follows: Certain vast assemblages of
corpuscles, comprising the heaviest
atoms, are somewhat unstable. As
their kinetic energy decreases the ag-
gregation 'explodes' and the corpus
Giles rearrange themselves with the
evolution of energy and the projection
Of some of the products of the rear
rangement. This is radioactivity. The
alpha-rays from a radioactive body
are simplified arrangements of corpus
Giles let loose from the explosion.
They are positively electrified sub
atoms. The beta-rays are free corpus
cles let loose fro mthe explosion.
The gamma-rays are probably identi-
cal in nature with X-rays and are
probably pulses in the ether set up by
the explosion
But the fact that rounds out the
sum of knowledge from which new de-
ductions are to be made is "'the birth
OF helium' in the radium emanation.
Here we have the modern alchemy
the transmutation of the elements
and the evidence of inorganic eyolu-
tion-the reversal of old notions. Sir
Norman Lockyer's study of the solar
and stellar spectrums has shown that
in the sun and stars the elements
are different from, and simpler than,
these same elements as we know
them on earth"