BIRTH OF THE ATOM?

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1713, 2 April 1913, Page 8

BIRTH OF THE ATOM?

VIEWS OF-SCIENTIFIC MEN.

The paper read before the Chemical Society on February 6 by Sir William Ramsay, Professor Norman Collie, and Mr. H. Patterson ha\;e aloused the greatest interest —and' some, incredulity—in scientific circles (says tho -v Westminster Uazetto"). • ylt will be 'remembered that those papers suggested' (great pains had been taken to eliminate error) that the discovery of Sir William Kamsay of traces of helium in old X-ray tubes, and by i'rolessor Norman (Jdllie.and ilr. PaitcrscAi of helium and neon (detected spectroscopically) in bulbs .ivhicu previously contained only hydrogen, showed the transmutation ot atoms of ouo • kiijd into atoms, of another kind, of tho formation, of energy into matter! I The "Journal des Debats" publishes au article by M. H. de Varigny, the wellknown scientific writer,, who says:— "The discovery then announced, if verified (and nothing can be easier), is one of . the most important yet made by tho geiiius of man. .It is far more interesting' than tho discovery of r.adium, which is an end, a disintegration, a death, while this new discovery; is a commencement, a genesis, and at the same displays one of the two primordial elements springing from other- matter,-' emerging from force, and thereby .realising a grandiose amalgamation." PROFESSOR THOMSON INTER- . ' VIEWED. Professor Sir J. J. Thomson, in au interview with a "Morning- Post" representative, criticised the experiments which wore described by Sir William Ramsay, Professor Collie, and Mr. Patterson .. at tho . Chemical Society. He did said, agree with the'explanation, of their work to ; which tliese'investigators appeared to incline. He'hadMiimself, he continued, teen engaged for the last two years on a similar line, of research, and lie believed that the results indicated that tho source of'.the neon, and helium discovered was to be found in tho glass of tho ap-. paratus or in the electrodes, and Chat' nothing comparable 'with tho synthesis of elements was taking place. Ho pointed out further that his ,own experiments were to the effect that such ga;es were produced at tho time that the experiment was st&r'ted, but, that the production ceased < after the experiment, .h&d'been running for a few days. Wlieri.this occurred, however, it was only necessary to. change one of 'tho electrodes in tho apparatus for the guises again to begin to make their appearance. In .this way lie had thought for a time that a hitherto unlcnbwn substance having Ith'o' atomic" weight three had been prepared out tho hydrogen in'his tube, but hp no. longer believed this to be the case. T)ic indication of tlie experiments,; 1 l)e. concluded, was that nothipg further had been done than (to liberate gases 'that at the outset of the experiment were .contained in tho apparatus. To get rid of . such.'gases was. a matter of extreme ,difficulty.- . Evep. flreat heat did not liberate them effectually, but all precautions' ha<£ been taken .to drive, them off. They wore set freo when the substapce's containing'them were violently bombarded by .the beta rays. WHAT SIR OLIVER LODGE THINKS. Sir Oliver Lodge, who has written much on these subjects, was asked his opinion of tho experiments, and he remarked:—' "Though it is very-enticing to suppose that atoms'can be manufactured out of other, or that complex atoms can bo built up out of simple ones.i a' great deal of proof will bfe required taforo it, can be accepted. Tho chief difficulty is the extraordinary store of material which, can exist in the pores of a metal, that a quantity of occluded gas can lie given off by'the metal under the stimulus of electronic bombardment; (undoubtedly suggesting that it is being manufactured. The most conservative view, however, would bo that, it is, being, ejected <rat of some molecular storehouse, and is liot really a new production. I am: ready to accept ihe manufacture 6f.atotas : 'Vhen' the evidence is conclusive, but ur present I 'confess I incline to the more.'conservative and, so to speak,: commonplaco view. I need hardly saV that this implies ho rel flection oii-the brilliant experimenters to whom wo owe these results, which from any point of view are' Striking and important." i MR.' FREDERICK SODDY'S VIEWS. < Mr. Frederick Soddy, Lecturer in Physical Chemistry and Radioactivity, Glasgow University, has also given -his views as . follow • "The results as regards the apparent formation of helium and neou in vacuum tubes under the. influence of. the cathode rays 'have been lioticed . by previous investigators. A paper' published by .myself in the 'Proceedings'"of this. Royal' Society, 1903, page 91, states that the source of what might be termed the miraculous appearance of heliuiii in-, a vacuum tube was traced to .the power of aluminium electrodes of absorbing these gases during previous use. Baron Von Hirsch, of Munich, in 1907 came to this laboratory to. investigate a case ho' had noticed , in which he supposed that helium was produced by Hie cathode ray discharge inia vacuum tube. This , wo' succeeded in completely disproving. These observations show that other workers have investigated the.cathode rays ii> vacuum tubes, and have oven thought that helium and other rare-gases were produced. It is impossible to say anything about tho new ex-/ periments-of Sir William Ramsay, Pro r fesspr Collie, and Sir. Patterson: until full publication is available". --There, is nothing in tho paper .which leads one to' ■suppose >t'hat tlitae is'any special; new condition to: which ,the.production could be ascribed, and, of course, some such condition may account .'for , the results. All that can bo said is that, other workers have not got- helium in experiments which seem to be'siinilal'." NEMESIS OF MATERIALISM: , "For myself,'.' writes Dr.iC.'W. Saleeby in the "Daily Chronicle,"-"the real significance of sucli work as this, which' may well bo the culmination-of" tho last, decade of chemical "research, is not scientific, but philosophical. . It •is tho very Nemesis of materialism . to. discover that the solid atoms ou! which it-built are"not' material at all. If- ' thero :bo no such thing as matter, materialism "would appear to be,only the latest of many superstitions. That which we call' energy" is tetjn to .be the ultimate reality of the psysical Universe,' a•, reality which, takes . many forms, including those , which we call tho atoms of the elements. -. "And what, then, is dfoergy?. the puzzled philosopher, may atki -and I. know no - better answer than has been left us by all the honest and profound thinkers of the past— that,' they only know what euergy does, not what" it is; but that it makes manifest tho Universal Being : '"Whose dwelling' is the light of Set- ■ ting suns, : ' . And tlio round, ocean'and the living air, And'.the blue sky, and.'in the mind of .man; . A motion and a. spirit, that impels All thinking;things, nil'objects!of'all, thought, ~ ■- v •And'-rolls'through'all' things.'," - ;