Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-30
Continued from Yesterdays starr

1t appears that the discovery of the
oew gas by the chief of the league
came only as additional evidence of
Facts he had proved in years of secret
experiment. The finding of the aithon
Except in so far as the secretion
and amount of IL is Concerned-sur-
prised the master very little. He had
proved long before to his own salts
faction a fact that Dan had faint
slimmerings of: That the atom, with
Its system OF nucleus and attendant
electrons. was not the smallest unit
Of matter.
Isaac Newton. more than two CEN
turtles ago, put forward the hypoth-
esis that light was simply the radi-
alton of minute particles of mat
ter from q glowing body--an idea,
according to Dan. which modern
scientists still valued as a startling
suggestion from the old boy which
anticipated later discovery. The
scientists valued it, though they dis
carded it in favor of the wave or
transverse vibration of the ether
theory.
Light and energy, as far as / follow
the reasoning, We're inseparahle. The
light from the sun may come in
waves, but waves cannot occur in d
void. Matter ot some sort is needed
for the transmission of vibrations.
The medium lying in space between
the earth and the sun would, there
fore. be matter. When the ship
wrecked mariner put two watch
glasses together with water between
them, and focused the suns rays on
his finder, setting it alight-what did
he concentrate? Light or energy
Newton would have said particles of
matter. Maxwell or Hertz may have
explained it on the electro magnetic
theory. But that. as Doc Poets of
Wolfville would say. lis however"
When hydrogen is bombarded by
alpha particles. as shown by Ruther-
ford in 1919. the heavier helium atom
tminus its two electrons) sometimes
has head-on collision with lighter
hydrogen atom. The latter is repealed
In the same direction as that travelled
by the alpha particle, but, having
smaller mass and greater velocity
than its repellent, travels further
through the hydrogen gas than the
particle that banged il could. These
H-particles might possibly collide
with other hydrogen atoms. and SO
keep the ball rolling, as il were.
From similar phenomena in his own
observation, the chief was led to dis
card in part the later theory of light,
and to go back to the Newton idea
He worked on the assumption that
the heat of the sun. and its light.
was transmitted through the material
ether as varying forces of kinetic
energy by a progression on the same
principle as the H-particles were pei
lated through the hydrogen. Light
came, not so much in waves as in par
tiCles at varying speeds, and the
speCtroscope registered not so much
waves or vibrations. but these par
ticles at varying speeds. Beyond the
power of the spectroscope's register
lay the greatest force of all--or al
most the greatest-the ultra violet
rays of the modern scientist.
The tangibility, so to word it. of the
ether and its constant interpoSition
Of its atoms in the path Of the high
velocity particles thrown off by the
sun, gradually diminished the force
of these particles and proba bly,
changed their character, thus saving
the earth from the destruction in
evitable if this mighty energy had
reached IL unhindered and unchanged.
The ether, roughly speaking. acted on
the majority OF the particles like the
plant that reduces the voltage Of cleo :
tricity for domestic uses. Though in
the course of the long journey from
The sun, through such a dense atomic
blanket, more particles had collision
than was the case with the alpha par
ticles in hydrogen fsince alpha par
ttcles travel only at from 5000 to
10000 miles a second, while the Nv
particles, with an infinitely greater
range and greater voyage, started off
with an immeasurab bly, greater speed
than the old conception of light speed
$4,000 miles per secoud) a count
Less number of the Nv particles won
through. The cases of the alpha par
ticles in hydrogen and the NV parti-
cles in the ether were analogous in so
far as both were heavier than the
atoms on which they impinged. the
Nv particles, however, being inf
nitely smaller than alpha particles
AS with all the series of rays thrown
off by radioactive minerals which
can be detected in their flight by
electric or ma ghetto fields so it was
discovered that these unseen rays
from the sun could be shepherded-
and not only shepherded, but con-
centrated. But as in the first ex-
periments with the rays from radium,
where the highly important alpha
particles were neglected for the more
snowy and more penetrating beta and
gamma rays, beyond the ultra -viol ct
rays in the new science was a varying
ray less snowy, but infinitely more
astonishing in its effects-the neu-
Gral-tint ray.
IN trying TO explain the source or
the energy contained in radium, the
scientists OF the early twenties pinned
their belief to the more demonstra BILE
and feasible theory that the energy
was inherent-thus disca riding the
apparently merely romantic notion
that the source of its energy was
cosmical. 1t was said, since it could
not be proved. otherwise by any
known experiment, that the rate or
progress Of radiation from these new
elements could not be speeded up, and
that radio activity could not be Gre
ated, though it could be induced for a
short period Of life in certain COM
pounds and elements brought into
proximity with radio actiye sub
stances.
In experimenting, however, on ra-
dunn bromide with the concentrated
neutral-tint rays from the sun, the
chief discovered that the salts be-
came supercharged with energy, and
threw off not only the previously
known rays of the alpha, beta and
gamma type at increased speeds, but
other rays of a different nature, still
unnamed at the time OF writing.
Uranium-supposed by the expert
mentors of the early twenties to be