THE TRANSFORMATION OF ELEMENTS 229 



used in analysis or from the vessels emplo}'ed, or ((f) as a 

 transmutation product from one of the elements present, in which 

 case, since the same results were obtained with both nitrate and 

 sulphate, the probable parent substance would be copper. 



To test these possibilities Ramsay and Cameron carried out 

 a series of three experiments as carefully as possible. 



(1) Pure copper nitrate solution was treated with emanation 

 in a glass bulb. After treatment the solution was analysed. 

 Lithium was present. 



(2) A roughly equal quantity of the same solution was placed 

 in a bulb of the same glass, sealed up, and allowed to stand 

 along with the first. No lithium was found. 



(3) Pure water was placed in a similar glass bulb, and treated 

 with emanation. Afterwards it was evaporated to dryness and 

 the residue tested. No lithium was found. 



The further results obtained in these experiments will be 

 discussed presently. 



Since no lithium was found in the second experiment (a) was 

 ruled out. The results of the second and third experiments 

 together negative (b). Since the "treated" and "untreated" 

 solutions were analysed in identically the same way, hypothesis 

 (c) seems extremely unlikely, so that an actual transmutation 

 would seem to have taken place. 



Some account of the methods used in these and later experi- 

 ments will now be given. 



(a) Preparation of copper nitrate. — Pure laboratory copper 

 sulphate was dissolved in extremely pure water (the water used 

 throughout these experiments was of such degree of purity that 

 20 c.c. gave a totally unweighable residue) ; the solution was 

 electrolysed and the copper deposited on a rotating cathode of 

 smooth platinum. After washing with pure water about half 

 the copper was dissolved in a few cubic centimetres of redistilled 

 nitric acid of such degree of purity that 50 c.c. gave a residue of 

 less than 0*4 milligram. The solution was evaporated to dryness 

 on the water-bath, and heated for some time to expel nitric acid. 

 It was dissolved in pure water and filtered into two glass bulbs 

 newly made from the same piece of tubing. The first was 

 treated with several accumulations of emanation. It was finally 

 sealed off and the emanation allowed to decay. The second was 

 exhausted and sealed. 



(b) Method of treatment with emanation. — The original plan has 



