PHILOSOPHER' STONE

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 19, 17 October 1907, Page 10

PHILOSOPHER' STONE

TRANSMUTATION' PROBLEMS.. Since Sir William Ramsay convinced him* self three or four years, ago that a gaseoua omanation of radium-, may be spontaneously • transformed into helium ho has been hunting for evidenco of other, changes of. a similar character- (says Science Sittings','). Particular attention has-boon given to tho possibility of promoting suoh alterations with the help of the wonderful ejompjit which-, has given its discoverers,'the Curies/, lastingfame. , , , Sir William now thinks that in addition to; helium - two other atmospheric ■ gapes, • neon and argon,'are .evolved from radium. Ho also believes that copper, •; disintegrating under the influenco of the radiations of radium,' may yield lithium (the lightest of.all ; metals),sodium, and perhaps potassium., . Thus ris'.revorsed a feat which .rumour-, credited-him with performing several .mohths ago, and what Sir William is . now- willing'to acknowledge strengthens tho 1 Suspicion . that" he really made a confidential communication'' at that time-'to Remsen >of the John Hopkins University. :. . ; ! ' • Sir William, howeycr, .-refers •to the sub-1 stances which apparently result from his experiments with copper as " degradation products." Ho;evidently-thinks of them as-re-presenting a form of decay.'rather' than 1 si synthetic (putting together or building up); process. Moreover, while gold and 1 silver/have been -classed by-chemists,' at''has cop-'*-per," with the : alkaline 1 metals,> ho lias not. succeeded in''developing any of '.''the; three-' from lithium/ sodium, or potassium.;' ■ No Industrial Value. • ; : . ' Even though Sir -William's interpretation' of hia work' should' bo correct,- it' evidently, cannot bo turned to account coninVercially/' Nobody has use for neon or argon, ; for tlioy-' resemble'- nitrogen in' their'unwillingness- to"' form compounds. : They do not possess in--' dustrial value. A market cpuld bo fouild for' lithium, no doubt; but'only-a lunatic "would;; propose to manufacture it by'a'"method'TOquiring tho assistance of so costly-'an l ele-• ment as radium. Thero uro yet no indications that the precious metals ' can' be evolved"' from anything else,'as the alchemists hoped might bo tho case. ' --' : ; Kven if radium would perform tho office'' of tlio philosopher's' stone; tho products would be vastly more expfiiuiye than those of the mine. The solo'interest'attaching/to' those revelations is ■ philosophic. Thoy hint at susceptibilities which may not before have been recognised'in'matter. So' long'as Lord Kolvin vigorously discredits' -transmutation no one olse need feel ashamed to evinco scepticism. Yet the inquiry conducted by' Sir. William. Ramsay, under tho' inspiration/ of a discovery' of Profcssi'r'Syddy, may ha!v«'' only just begun and may leiul 'to cwiclusioiiT which' are not now' Warrantable. ; ' ; How to Analyse petals.'-/ /.. /". 1 ' :' i: In tho experiments hero' referred to, evf« deuce of a change seems to'have bebn'sought, with the spcctroscopo'. Every known element/ 1 yhen examiiied with that,instrument displays'., lines "which from their colour - and position' on a suitable scale differentiate it''from all„ other elements.' 1 The'/hibst''astoiiishiiig in-; formation about the compdsition' .of /the romotcst 1 stars'is thus obtained by tho astrohb- ; mer.' Nevertheless, at' least two influences ' alfect'spectroscopic testimony. A. sliiftingof/ tho lines to ono. side or t-hp ot-hor is , caused , by-motion' away from or towards -the obser-. ver.. Wide diltoronces of temperature sometimes lead, tho same' element .to tell dissimilar stories. / ' /„'. -/,. / ' -. ■ [M instance/ it. was once, thought thattlio only index of sodium was a pair of..very heavy lines in tho 'yellow'part .of the spectrum. The spectrum of a /substance is, of course, the several coloured and other rays, of the light given out by, the, flames of .the -, substance when burniug. The..light, is-sepa-rated into these rays by the ..refraction.'-of a/. prism, or other means. The spcctroscopo is the instrument/for forming and examining these rays and.' .thus determining/ ( th.o '.cphiposition of tho'.substance.' "This, method' is . applied t.Oj jstiji^ | j\)'ith, (l aj: ,:we/, b'a\rq «sdidj. tounding' fesultsrrafitpnishingj v addition's, to., our t^jr'/o'c/jip^ijii'oni;. ting the spectrum of sodium, it is now known that ■ rfxtromo/-heat, will., develop: .seven, other/ pairs of lines than the,, heavy.. ones ...jusjr' -re-, f erred .to.' Neitlicr of theso perturbing,causes., could transform the spectrum of copper into., the. spectrum of lithium , or sodium, - but it is not incredible' ''that./ some, .other,,-agency, operates .to, give /misleading indications. . Chemists hesitato'. now as ' before .to,, pro^.■-. nounco the spcctroscopo infallible. Possibly., one of tlio . fruits of recent - researches ■ into wliat looks liko.,transmutation... sjay. bo the ■ discovery of another 'phenomenon, for ..which allowanco must be made in chemical analysis. ' . ' v.