The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1917-01-18
power OF RADIUM
1t May Be the Force Destined to
Destroy the World. &
TO DIE IN A BURST OF FLAME.

This Wonderful Element, It Is Claimed,
Will Fire. Emancipate Man and Then
Later on Put an End to Him and All
His Works In Sea of Fire.
If we place a thermometer into a
phial containing a minute quantity of
radium bromide it will indicate tenn
perature 81 degrees hotter than the
temperature outside of the ph1al.
What the temperature would be If we
substituted radium for radium bromide
We have NO means of knowing, for sci
ence has not as yet produced pure "a
dunn, although the lay world prefers
to think so. Our closest approach to
radium so far has been radium bro
mide, which if pure consists roughly Of
three-ffths by weight of the element
radium and two-ffths of the element
bromine
Turning back to our thermometer, we
also make the discovery that the heat
radiated from our speck of radium
bromide does not grow less as the days
and months-nay. years and centuries
roll by. The mysterious element con-
tinues to furnish prodigious amounts of
energy. with never let up or at least
not until it has worked" for $500
years, this being the present calculated
age of radium.
In order to better comprehend what
thls means let us compare it with coal
This is what we find:
According to Professor Soddy, a
gram of pure radium evolves 1873 Gallo
ries of heat an hour In one year
(S,160 hours the same gram Of radium
evolves 1,1G0,CG0 caIories. In $500
years-the length of time radium will
evolve 2,90O,000,O0 calories
will be developed. Now, one gram of
coal when burned evolves 1900 net
calories of heat. Consequently the ell
ergy developed by radium is more than
a million times that furnished from the
combustion of coal,
Commercial radium salts are at pres
ent obtained by working the Austrian
p1tchblende and lately from the Ameri
NAAA vi IiobltC louul Ill NOlDIduO. These
are practically the only commercial
sources known today.
But radium is by no means as scarce
as most people believe. Radium ema-
nations have been found in springs. in
the air. in rocks. etc., and this has
given rise to an extraordinary theory
regarding the evolution of the worlds.
When the famous SwiSS-I Italian Sim
plon tunnel was constructed some Years
ago totally unforeseen circumstances
arose which made the work most diff
cult. Although this tunnel is far above
sea level, the heat became uncomfortable
as the work progressed. Artificial cool
ing had to be resorted to in order to al
low the workmen to proceed with their
work. Professor Jolly then made the
astounding discovery that the rocks of
the slmplon contained radium, which
accounted for the unexpected high tenn
perature within the mountain.
From this Jolly has built up a new
theory of evolution. and, while revolu-
tionary in the extreme, it is most plau-
sible and gains more adherents each
year.
Lord Kelvin already deduced that if
the earth contained only two parts of
radium per million million-and a great
deal more is actually found in the
rocks and crust of orr globe-this min
ute quantity would raise the tempera-
ture of the earth's core 1,S0O degrees
c. in 1o0.0O0,00O years There being no
escape for the imprisoned heat-the
earth's crust being an exceedingly bad
heat onductor-Professor Jolly con-
vlnces us that as the ages roll by the
interior of the earth must become hot
ter and hotter. Finally. after the end
OF millions of millions of years the
crust must give way to this tremen-
dous heat from within and the burst
ing earth must go up in flames, becom-
ing burning gas ball. just as we see
our sun today.
This will be the "incandescent age"
title suggested by Professor Soddy
After another ten million years the
incandescent earth will have expended
all of its heat into space by radiation
and it gradually will cool A new crust
then begins to form anew This is
what we see at present on the planets
Jupiter and Saturn. worlds just begin
ming to cool after emerging from their
incandescent age.
Thus we find that worlds do not die.
They slowly pass from one stage to
another, in a long and interminable
cycle. 1t is more than probable from
the above shat the earth must have
passed many times through this cycle.
Probably every time the world went
up in flames man was at his highest
point Of civilization. infinitely further
advanced than we are today. In an
instant every living soul had persisted.
and for millions of years his like was
not to tread again on the hardened
earth crust.
This is the new and greater gospel
of radium. the element which will
emancipate man and which will de-
stroy him and his all later.-H. Germs
bach in Electrical EXperimenter.
e