The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-01-01
THE PHILOSOPHERS STONE.
BASIS For Belief In Its Reality May
Perhaps He Found In Radium.

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
1t touches" Following this definition
Of the philosophers. ''stone" came .. pc
Rod Of mysticism and eharlatanry,
swa ying the world with the belief that
the baser metals might be changed to
gold. It Is strange, therefore, that the
formula of Paracelsus should express
with precision the conclusions adopted
by d 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 radiun. =,
This opinion is not yet belief, and
the conclusions are but tentative. Pro-
fessor Ramsay assures us, however,
that they constitute a working hypoth-
esis. In 1863 M. Jansen, the French
astronomer. discovered an unknown ell
ement, afterward NAMED helium, in the
chromosphere OF the sun during an
eclipse. Ramsay in 1896 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
,fa u oya In
" minute particles, shot off with enor-
nous VELOCITY, when acting upon glass
change, disintegrate and "build up
new atoms of similar radio active eie-
ments, notably heium. It Is legiti-
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 Il
constructive and not Of descriptive
nature" II, as looks probable, he
maintains. the action of the electrons,
themselves the conyeyors Of enormous
energy. on such matter as glass IS to
build up atoms which are radio active"
and 'if it be found that the particular
matter produced depends on the ele-
ment' on which the electrons fall and
to which they impart their energy
then the transmutation of elements
no longer appears an idle dream" He
snys further:
The philosophers stone will have been
discovered. and II is not beyond the
bounds of possibility that it may lead to
that other goal OF the philosophers Of thes
dark ages, the elixir vitae, for the ac-
ton OF living cells Is also dependent on
the nature and direction OF the energy
which they contain, and who can say
that It will be impossible to control their
action when the means of impartins and
controlling energy shall have been tnves-
tignted?
Transmutation appears to be fact
In at least one instance. 1t is almost
certain that radium, itself an element.
changes into various other elements
Moreover. its life I'm its present form
Is a comparatively short one, and It
must therefore be in course OF forma-
ton, else the amount would be exhaust
ed In about $500 years. The infer
ence may not be resisted that not this
element merely. but several elements,
are undergoing a spontaneous change
into other forms Of matter, themselves
highly energized, and themselves un-
stable. Men already control the proc
as Of transmitting radium. Have they
indeed penetrated the secret at the
foundation Of the forms Of matter and
life7-NeH York Times.