New-York tribune., 1905-08-30
TIE ORIGIN OF RADIUN.

In a letter to Nature Mr.. r. J. Strut, OF
Cambridge, England, throws little fresh light
on one of the questions which have for several
years been fascinating chemists and physicists.
When Mr.. Frederick Soddy and Sir William
Ramsay first announced the apparent change
of radium into helium they and other men who
were engaged in allied Investigations asked, If
all existing radium is subject to decay, from
what source comes the new supply? Thereupon
the suspicion excited that either uranium
or thorium must be the parent of radium Not
only is one or the other Of them always associ-
ated with radium In the minerals from which
radium is extracted, but both uranium and
thorium themselves are radioactive substances
Furthermore, two or three inquirerS-among
them Mr. Strutt-had independently noticed
that the amount Of radium obtained from pitch
blende was proportional to the quantity Of
uranium there.
Experiments were then conducted with a view
to detecting the evolution OF radium from ura-
mum. At first the outcome disappointing
For time there was apparently no result. and
at length Mr.. Soddy reported that, while there
seemed to be a trace of product, the quantity
was only about One-thousandth as large as theory
demanded. 1t was permissible to suppose that
there might be intermediate substance
between uranium and radium, just there Is
between radium and helium, but of that possi
hiIity Mr.. Soddy could furnish demonstra,
ticn. Mr.. Strut now makes preliminary re-
port Of a similar test, which differed from Mr.
Soddy's in method and In It's consequence Also
Mr. Soddy worked with pure uranium salts. Mr.
Strut employed pitchblende containing uranium
and freed as far as possible from radium. The
second of these investigators believes that he
has found encouragement for the hypothesis
that uranium is the parent of the element the
discovery Of which has made the Curies so
famous.
Twice, with an interval Of three and a half
months Mr. Strut examined his pitchblende
for radium. The average of three measure
ments the first time was SO on a certain arbl
trary scale. The mean of the second set of
tests, FIVE In number, was 1875 by the same
standard. Now Mr.. Soddy and others had
previously inferred that If q transitional prod
uct" was concerned in the origin of radium the
rate CT formation would not be uniform, but
would increase with time. On the face of the
returns, therefore, it looks as If the correctness
OF that conjecture had been partially confirmed
What is still more significant Is the fact that
the amount of radium found was proportiOnatey
much greater than that found by Mr.. Soddy
Mr. Strut is careful to say he is not yet conf
dent that his results trustworthy. but he is
hopeful that when he next tests his specimens
he Will have a stronger than now.
At present the value OF revelations of this
kind is philosophical, not practical. Only four
or five out of eighty chemical elements give any
hint of that instability which makes transmuta-
ton possible; and none Of them yields prod
uct which has any commercial value. Helum
is gas which has no Industrial Importance; and
even II the world wanted It never badly, the
operation of manufacturing it out of radum
would be so enormously expensive that 1t would
not be adopted. AS yet there is not the slight
est hint that the old alchemists hope OF con-
verting the baser metals into gold was any
thing but dream. There is not to-day the
slightest hint that the dream will ever be real
lied Nevertheless, the insight which is af-
forded into the nature of matter by researches
like Mr.. STRUTS Is not without its charm.