RADIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 325, 18 January 1909, Page 4

RADIUM.

m HEMAUKAiJLE I'KOl'EimES. "And now you are holding in youi muds the most wonderful discovery oi science." These were the words remark •il to an Auckland Star representative jy Mr Clement Wragge, the wcll-kuowi: istrononier anil meteorologist, who hue liroduced his exquisite specimens of tin marvellous metal radium—the wonder ol ihc mineral kingdom. At a first glance at this extraordiuar) metal lying at the bottom of a till) sealed tube, the eye, unseeing to the radiant beauties which the jiowerfu electric light of the cabin so effectually conceals, notices nothing move than s few hundred minute grains of a pah green hue approaching almost to s greenish-white. 11l- Wragge continued ; " That which you hold in your hand ii pure radium and worth 3,000 times iti weight in gold, aud could you but gel iyjhi of it (audi an amount is o course not in existence) you would hi worth £400,000 sterling." KTHEU «.A'S THUOUviJI THE 11A.N1 "As you hold that in your hand a present, the. powerful ether rays fron tiie radium are passing right 'thvoiijjl the glass and then right through you hand. If you were to keep it there fo an hour or two, although you feel n< effects ul first, u brown spot, itirhinj painfully, would appear by the end of I week in the pal f your'hand. A lillb later a .painful ulcer unu'd form, perli.ip several, mid would take long to heal (Tile reporter ne.irly ilrojiped the tube. UULLT Villi .1,00(1 VEAKS. Another sealed tube of the preciou substance was then held up for inspec tiou, but this wus very dill'erent in ap pearanoc, lieing wholly of a white coloi "That," said Jlr Wragge, "is ritdiuii mixed with zinc sulpnide, which enable our limited vision to discern the laitiuii much better than with the unaided ey —just as a pair of spectacles helps on to read." The light was once more turned out and a light luminous object shone u from the palm of the professor's handhaving an appearance almost identica with that of phosphorus. "That light, said ill- Wragge, " will last for some thing like 5,000 years before it fad;-.-even if it does so then. THE ETIIEII HAYS. " Kiulium \v!iii-ii comes from a minera tailed pitch-blende, gives oil' three nuii. kinds of rays, which arc named th Alpha, the. Beta, and the Gemiuii my respectively. The first two are mor scientifically caned particles as distinc from the (lemma, or as they are no\ called the ether rays. The last namei are actual pulsations of the very cthe 'itself, and travel at the enormous sped of ISti.OOl) miles per second. Klher ray are therefore a great potent form o electricity. In fact, since radium ha been discovered we know that mutter of all kinds is electric ; everything i swamped in an ocean of electricity From these Omnia rays we may ge some idea of the enormous pulsation of ether which are set up by the terri lie hydrogen flames of the sun, and transmitted to earth, cause earth quakes and other disturbances on ou planets." A WONDERFUL SlflllT. To enable the human vision to (lis ccrn the Alpha rays, Mr Wragge em ploys a small instrument known as tin spinthariscope, invented by Sir Wm Crookes. This consists of a small bras: barrel containing at one end a whiti cardboard disc, in front of which is i little gold arrow, moveable from thi outside. On the top is a powerful lcijs Applying the whole to the eye a wond rous spectacle is beheld. Myriads o

scintillating gems of light are ever Hashing outward from the tip of the arrow, and the whole extent of the 'screen most resembles a stretch of pleasing, dancing water, of which the lights of a hundred suns sparkle in dazzling brilliancy Astounded at the sight, the beholder waits for n.~ explanation of this wonderful manifestation. ''On the tip of that arrow," Mr AVragge remarks, "is the minutest trace of radium—so minute that yon cannot see it, and yet a univer3fl within itself. It is an unstable disintegrating system, and you may ste it Hinging oil' new .systems and atoms, each of which are also universes in themselves. The light that you see there will last from 2,000 to 5.0U0 years. Badium seems to upset the two stated laws of nature—the conservation of energy and the persistency of matter. Here we have radium giving out energy simply from nowhere. These Alpha rays are travelling at the rate of l."i,H0() miles an hour, and all from a tiny universe 100 small to see !'' SEEN UNDER A COATSLEEVK. Next came the most astonishing feature of the exhibition. Taking a third ■specimen of radium enclosed in a small zinc cell, Mr Wragge placed it under his coat sleeve. Nothing: could be seen. The lump of willeiuite rock was passed on top, and at once glowed as the eth:-r ray» running through the material' encountered it. The radium was then passed beneath a starched cull', and the Xrays screen over it. Straightway through Jinen, coat sleeve, and the card board on the screen, came the luminous rellectiou on the —rays plate. THROLGH A TIN SHEET. The same was done with a hard hat with like results; but a further stage had yet to be reached. Taking an ordinary tin-box the radium was held beneath the lid, and the willemite rock . above. With such prior experience, the pressman took it almost as a matter of course that the rough stone became once more a phosphorus. '■ It proves to us," said Mr Wragge, "that no matter is really solid. Ether rays penetrates anything; they go through a piece of steel twelve inches thick, or pierce an iron-clad. Whilst coming out from England in HJOli .1 had this radium packed near some unopened photographic plates. When 1 took them out after arriving at in.v destination this (holding up a hopelessly smudged plate) was I lie sort of thing I found." A FEARfUL SPKKD. To observe the ether rays the use, of the magnifying lens on liie radium in the zinc cell is once more resorted to, but for some time, however closely the gape may be directed, there appears nothing but a white, luminous, ami some what blurred mass. A minute passes—perhaps two—and then the eye, discerns that what appeared to be n mass in all a whirl, so fast that the whole of it can scarcely be distinguished from a white immovable substance. It seems to be more or less flickering, as if lightning pulsated each individual Hash." A folding of awe steals over the observer, and lie hears the remark : "'Those ravsfroni the radium arc travelling at the'rate of ISII.WKI miles per second." PHOTOdRAPIIED TllUOCdlf A COIN. Mr Wragge at this stage produced a 'photograph taken from sensitive plate by inserting a half-penny between Hie radium and the X-rays' screen. The seusative plalc was then placed on top. After 'exjiosure a clear round white patch appeared on the plate where the ether rays had passed up through the coin, the bronze being as nothing to the mighty ether rays from a little piece of radium. A photograph of a key, which had been taken by means of the ether rays through apiece of cardboard, was also shown to the writer. "It was this picco of radium," said Mr Wragge, "which T oll'cred to the Amir of Afghanistan, and which he refused, evidently from fear of retaining such a thing! The I'arsces. or lireworshippcrs of Tndia, used to handle it : with great reverence at my lectures, seeing in it an everlasting lire." WILL PROLOXT! LI HI. "And what are the uses of ■.adiuni ''" asked the reporter. "Radium will support liie." was Hie reply. "It will destroy life : it. will prolong life ; it has been' alleged that it | will create life. The life of a caterpillar lias actually licon prolonged for several weeks beyond its natural period of existence ley being exposed to ether ravs. 'When we know more about it land tic study is comparatively in its infancy) we may make the lives of people, whose lives arc worth keeping, radio-active, so that thev might live to the age of Mctlmsaleh." "Medical men hope llmt such diseases as cancer ami leprosy may be amelinrnltal, ifniot cured, by the 'other ravs, ami a on* of lupus in the hand has been Wired hv this treatment." I TUB ATOMIC THEORY. I '"Mainly from researches in radionet ivi'ty. and with respect to the Alpha particles, each flash representing a new atomic, tl >ry. we now know that. trillion's theory of the atom can be held no 'longer. The at'am tun be subdivided inHeflnitelv. There are. on an average, BftO.OUO forpmclcs or electrons in one isingle atom, ami we know from this startling study that we have not. only a universe of (he inlinitelv grand, but also one of the infinitely small. .Vrom lire grand to the snia'.l is all the same titorv."