The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 22, 1903.

Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 1028, 22 October 1903, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, OCTOBER 22, 1903.

RADIUM. A recent cablegram announced the formation of a company in Denver, U.i>., to work radium ore. A good deal lias been written about this .wonderful new metal that is to revolutionise science, but all the information that can he obtained about it must prove very interesting. A prominent scientist, when interviewed a short time ago, said : “I know something of it, and yet I know nothing. It is as yet a mystery which is engrossing the attention of some of the greatest scientists in the world. Some day they hope to 'be ■able to explain it, but as yet we are groping in the dark. We know the effect : we search lot cause.” With the discovery of.the Rongten ray it was found by M. Henry Becquerel that certain minerals, such as pitchblende, thorium, and uranium, possessed the extraordinary power in themselves of giving off a peculiar ray of light very similar to the Xrays. This discovery, termed radioactivity, opened a new field for scientific research. Experiments were made with the two minerals uran-

ium and thorium by Madame Curie a French scientist, with the resultthat this lady found that uranium—which was in itself a radio-active substance—was the container of a still more active compound which was as yet undiscovered. The lady came to tne conclusion that its ra-dio-activity was specilic, and that this extraordinary property was discerning in all its compounds to a similar extent, and therefore she concluded mat, since piiicnbleude is many times more active tlian uranium, it must contain a new lorce still more active in it seif than either ltadium lias tiius been the result of this logical conclusion on the part of a woman. The information regarding radium and its peculiar rays is stnl very meagre, hut more startling revelations are being loosed for, eminent men now being engaged in the patient work of investigating, ltadium possesses wit-iiiu itseu tne incomprehensible power of giving lorth a wonderiul neat-supply. Suppose it were possible to obtain suilicient radium to iiil the grate of a lire-place, tne metal would give oii heat., without any other external -agency, sufficient to warm a large room. .Not only would a fire not ue needed, fur the heat which tne- radium would give oli would last for all eternity, and yet would depreciate to an imperceptible extent tne metal which produced it. Fires of radium, however, are not yet a practical possibility, as uranium, of which pitchblende is the eiiief ore, at present costs something like £2,-luo per ton, while radium can only be extracted in minute particles from large quantities of uranium by a laborious and costly process. At present tlic cost of radium would work out at something like fifteen thousand pounds per ounce ! The new. discovery throws a contradictive light on some of the cherished beliefs of physical science,- The cor-ner-stone of modern physics, says iUr Johnstone >Stoney, is the theory I that perpetual motion cannot exist. .The doctrine known as “conservation of energy ” is therefore entirely disproved if perpetual motion is discovered. It is claimed, that radium is an unfailing original source of energy It has been shown that the heat radiations which radium gives are sufficient to melt a piece of ice one-sixteenth of an inch thick above the radiating area. It is the fact that this energy has been continuous from time immemorial, and will most probably continue lor millions of years even in the smallest atom of this metal, that physicists are at -their wits’ end to know more of this extraordinary radio-active phenomena. Unlike the Rontgen rays, the rays from uranium and radium are unaffected by any treatment whatsoever. Heating, electrification, or in fact any foreign enrgy, makes no perceptible diilerence to their . penetrating -powers or their continuous flow. Kotgen rays must be excited by an outside force in. order to start the radiation and excite the vacuum tube. One writer asks the question “ Will radium be the means of solving the riddle of the beginning of the world ?” and then, continuing, it is .explained that in a particle of radium we have something which, since its existence, has been continually pumping out a stream of infinitely minute fragments’. Yet no apparent transformation lias taken place in the substance itself.; Whence comes

this energy, and how does the stuff renew itself ? Do these particles represent the ultimate atoms from which all the so-called atoms ol our elements are built up ? Such are the questions being asked in scientific- circles. It is, states one writer, 'a problem which one day may go far towards solving the beautiful story, of the earth’s creation. , As to the use of radium, it is ex-

plained that if we could get sufficient of this new metal, it would be possible to do away with street lamps -everywhere, and thereby obtain a perfect light and heat without the aid of either gas or electricity. In the treatment of diseases radium may play a very important part. As a detective it has already been put to a practical test by the discoverers. M. Curie some found that a diamond would phosphoresce

beautifully in the presence of radium, but that the cleverest imitation diamond lie could find failed to

emit the waves of light.. It is said that the wealthier diamond experts

are now employing radium as a means of detecting frauds on their establishments. But radium must he handled with great care, not on account of its expense, but o-n account of the peculiar properties that it possesses. If 'a tube containing an infinitesimal portion of radium is held before a man’s temple he will have the sensation of .seeing stars. If radium be carried in the waistcoat pocket in a glass tube, alter some hours a blister will arise on the flesh, producing a sore that will take a considerable time to heal. It will even kill small creatures whose nerve centres are near the surface, and 'applied- to the nerve centres of ordinary human beings, it produces ■an effect which is to some extent paralysing. It is declared by those Who have visited the laboratory of M, and Madame Curie, in Paris, that

the walls of the room glow visibly

at night under the influence of the radiations from a few tenths of a gram of radium. It is said pure radium gives out many times more energy every year than does an equal weight of hydrogen and oxygen when they explode to form water. But it is computed that the formation of water emits more heat, taken weight for weight, than any other chemical reaction. .Thus, it

will be seen that atomic energy, as in the case of radium, must be infinitely greater than molecular energy, which is the source of the motivepower of our furnaces and boilers. Mr Soddy states : “ There is no saying to what strange results the recognition of th s may lead in the future. If we accept the conclusion that" Sir Norman Lockyer has drawn from his spectroscopic researches—that in the cooling stars new elements are being formed, and in the stars increasing in temperature, the elements present are being decomposed —the energy being absorbed and liberated respectively in those processes would of itself account for the temperature change observed. What controls these gigantic forces is still a mystery.” The knowledge of their existence, "however, must make us regard the planet on which we live as" a huge store-house stuffed with powerful explosives, far more powerful than anything else of which we have any conception whatsoever. What the result would be (states one writer) if there were not counteracting influences always at work, we can only conjecture. We have had in the explosion of Mont Pelee just a tiny illustration of what might take place on a terribly larger scale. The result of further investigations concerning radium will be anticipated with the greatest interest.

The Canadian Commissioners have refused to Bi'gn the Alaskan award. Mr Hill, Inspector of Schools, leaves for the Coast this morning to conduct the usual annual examination.

No communication has yet been received by the Federal Premier in regard to the alleged annexation of Tonga. The box plan for D'Arc’s Pantomime Company willl be open this morning at Mr Miller's.

The East Coast Coaching Company’s ’busses leave for the Waiuui Beach at 2 this afternoon. The WaereDga-a-hika stock saie takes place to-day, the entries totalling 1000 sheep and 170 head of cattle. The Federal Government has for the time being blocked discussion of the capital site question. In an interview the Rev. F. W. Isitt expressed disapproval of the main provisions of the Licensing Bill, and said he distrusted the Legislative Council as at present constituted to carry out the wishes of the people,

A cablegram announces that the drought has broken up in the Orange Colony, Basutoland, and Kimberley. A London cablegram states that a new standard weight of half a cental has been authorised, representing fifty pounds. Patricia Dempsey has been selected by the United Irish League to oppose Mr Arnold Forster for the House of Commons.

At the Hawke's Bay Show yesterday Miss Reynolds' King Jimmy obtained second prize in the hunters’ competition. Captain Edwin telegraphed at noon yesterday : — 1 Strong winds from between south-east arid east and north-west, glass fall, tides good, soa heavy outside alter 16 houi'3 from now, indications for rain.”

Yesterday an easterly galo was raging over the northern portion of the island, with heavy seas on tho East Coast. At Napier the weather was overcast, with fresh N.E. breeze and moderate sea. N.E. weather prevailed in the south, with bright sunshine and smooth seas.

A Wanganui licensed victualler, who was fined tor his employee having sold liquor to a prohibited person, said that there were close on eighty names on the prohibited list in that town, and he (the publican) did r not know personally more than half-a dozen of the whole of them.

While the D’Arc Company were appearing in the Standard Theatre, Loudon, Jennie Lee, tho celebrated actress, filed an injunction to prevent the marionettes from playing her well-known piece “Jo.” The Court ruled that they could not injunct mutes from playing what they pleased.

The New South Wales Government has been disposing of tbo public estato in a shameful way. During the past few months iOO,OUl) acres have been sold, presumably foe closer settlement, but a remarkable circumstance is that Victorian syndicates are largely the purchasers, and are in turn to oblige the small farmers—for a consideration.

Sir George Turner, the able Federal Treasurer, has drafted a scheme for dealing with tho debts of the various Australian States. They are to baud over the whole gross revenue of tho railways, and tho Federal Government arrange to meet the interest on the douts, and provide a sinking fund. Under the arrangement any future borrowing would have to be done through the Commonwealth.

It is stated that the river was never in such a bad state as it is at the present time, and the lighters cunnot get in at low lido. Last evening the Waihi had to leave the wharf an hour earlier than was necessary in order to get out of the river, and some of the lighters had to wait for somo hours before they ooulcl get to the wharf. We hope that the Harbor Board

will see that some efforts are made to improve this present unsatisfactory state of affairs. The Taluoe, which arrived from Auckland early this morning, fell in with the full force of the north east gale in cross-

ing the Bay of Plenty. The sea was so heavy that the Shaw-Savili Company’s steamer Karamea was compelled to hove to. The Xalune went alongside of tho ocean tramp, Captain Smith considering that something was amiss, but on receiving the assurance that all was well the Xalune resumed her voyage to Gisborne. The time occupied in the run irom Auckland to Gisborne occupied 83 hours.