CREATION OF MATTER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 562, 26 April 1913, Page 3

CREATION OF MATTER.

GREAT DISCOVERY BY SIR W. B. RAMSAY. MODERN ALCHEMY. A discovery which will revolutionise the science of chemical research and set hundreds of chemists working on new lines all over the world has been made by Sir William Ramsay, Professi r Norman Collie, of University College, London, and Mr H. Patterson, of the University of Lee^s. Although it has still to be de veloped, it means one of two things—either the transmutation of elements or the evolution of matter from energy, hoth of which have hitherto been regarded as impossible. Sir William Ramsay has made the following brief explanation : "For several years I used half a grannie of radium promide, lent tu me by the Royal Academy of Vienna. With that I thought I had succeeded in transmuting copper into lithium; silicon, titanium, irconium, and thorim into carbon. More recently I obtained neon from water. Two years ago the radium bromide was recalled by the academy. Now radium contains an enormous amount of energy in a concentrated form. In order to see whether some other source of energy could not be found to achieve the same results I investigated the contents of used X-ray bulb (closed glass vessels which had been used to produce X rays by means of an electrical discharge between two pieces of metal, one of which is known as the cathode). The bulbs were given to me by a medical friend. These bulbs were found to contain traces of gas helium, the existence of which could not be explained. Professor Collie was simultaneously experimenting with home-made X-ray bulbs, in which the cathode rays were employed as a source of energy. Mr Patterson persued a similar course of investigation, quite independently and without knowing of Dr Collie's work. Dr Collie was very sceptical at first, but ultimately they both came to the conclusion that if cathode rays are passed through pure hydrogen gas in a certain manner there is present in the hydrogen tube considerable quantities of neon, one of the atmosphere, and by some change of conditions the element helium is substituted for neon." THREE POSSIBILITIES. "Inasmuch as there is certainly no helium of neon in the bulbs, and a? the possibility of their entrance from the outside air, which contains them, was excluded by carefully-devised experiments, the only conclusion which can be drawn is that these elements are the production of some actions going on in the bulb. "2. Or that hydrogen is thus converted into both of these gases; "1. Either the transmytaton of the aluminium cathode, or of one of the numerous elements present in the glass into neon and helimu; "3. Or that the electricity itself, in the farms of electrons (particles of electricity) gives rise to the birth of these elements. "In short either the transmutation of one element into another or ihe creation of an element from electricity. This points the way for a

change of one form "of matter, supposed to be incapable of it, into another,"

"Does it mean, for instance, that you will be able to turn lead into gold?" Sir William was asked. '{do not know," was the reply. "It might. Though probably the coßt would be too great to make it worth while. The importance of the discovery is that we have deciphered another line in the book of nature and have opened the door to further discoveries. There may be commercial consequences; there probably will be; but these are not the concern of 'he scientific investigator. We are on the threshold of an entirely new departure in scientific investigation. "One advantage of the discovery is this: It is now within the reach of anyone who can command a battery and a coil to repeat the experiment. Formerly only those who had large stores of radium could attempt anything of the kind."