Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-08-10

death Of Sir William Ramsay, science
loses one of her most striking figures
and one of her keenest minds. He
stood at the meeting point of science
OF the nineteenth century and that of
the twentieth and his epoch making
discoveries are among the greatest
achievements of either period. He was
selected by Wilhelm Oswald the
world famous physicist and philosoph-
er, as perfetc type of the man OF
genius.
The most daring and radical Of the
conclusions whose truth he proved by
brilliant and patient experiment was
that transmutation of the elements Is
no mere dream Of the alchemists but
an actual process that Is continually
going on about us. The half mystical
scientists of the middle ages, men who
hardly deserve the name, with their
methods chaotic mixture Of expert
ment and hocus-pocus, spent years III
trying to turn lead into gold. The
skeptical Investigators of later CEN
turtles, the men who laid the founda-
tons of modern science and the
achievements that have transformed
the world exploded the old dream as
an impossible folly. Lead and gold
are elements, they and the very mean
ing of the term element Is something
that can not be turned into something
else Lead or gold can be combined
with other elements, but they will al.
way remain lead and gold.
Then came Sir William Ramsay and
showed that perhaps the theory at
least of the old alchemists was sound.
Radium and helium are elements. just
as are lead and gold; yet radium turns
Of its own accord into helium And in
1907 he went farther and it was an
1lounced that he had obtained a COM
pound of copper from sodium lithium
and potassium, three other elements,
by the use of radium.
The whole scientific world was
thrown into excitement by this an
nouncement, and indeed every think
ing man, scientists or layman, was
staggered by its Importance. The
great possibilities that it opened up
furnished rich and endless field for
speculation as to the changes that
might be wrought in the human life OF
the future by an understanding and
control Of the process, which seemed
to point not only to the chance OF
changing any substance into any other.
but also to release infinite stores OF
energy. the energy locked up in the
molecule. which would do the work OF
the world and render possible almost
any achievement dependent on power.
Sir William himself, with the true
scientific viewpoint refused to specu-
late on the possible consequences of
his discoveries, and even mininized
their practical Importance. He recog-
nized the immense amount of work
and investiga ton that would have to
be done before the smallest industrial
benefit would result from the recogni-
ton Of the hidden properties Of mat
ter. and he realized that the results
which imaginative minds unhampered
by scientific knowledge of the diff
culties involved predicted, lay at best
so far in the future that any theoriz-
ing as to their importance was idle
and unscientific. He admitted that a
ton Of radium breaking down of It's
own accord would do the work of mil
lions of tons of coal, but he pointed
out that the worlds production Of ra-
dunn would probably never exceed a
few ounces year. He admitted that
IL might Ue pUsSlule Ill consequence
of his discoveries and those OF his col
leagues to turn lead into gold, but he
reminded enthusiastic questioners that
the cost of the process would be pro-
hibitive. g..
He recognized, however, that his dis
coveries were of the first Importance.
They opened a new door to scientific
progress, and the possibilities they
brought up for industrial achievement
and The betterment of the lot of hui
mainly were none the less real for be-
ing very remote. He was one of the
men to take the first steps on path
that may yet lead to unimagned
heights.
This work of Sir Williams on the
ultimate nature of matter, this probing
into the fundamental qualities of all