THE NEW RADIATIONS— CATHODE RAYS AND RONTGEN 



RAYS. a 



By A. Dastke. 



It is generally agreed that one of the characteristic features of our 

 age is the enormous development of the applications of science. This 

 is a commonplace truth. We are completely surrounded on all sides 

 by these applications; the} 7 are intimately mingled with all the condi- 

 tions of everyday life; the} T take part in our housing, our clothing, 

 our lighting, our transportation in many ways; they assist us in com- 

 municating with our friends, far and near; they produce our portraits, 

 or they simply amuse us, so that the} 7 can not be ignored. But this 

 utilitarian aspect of modern science should not obscure its educational 

 and philosophic value. Referring, for instance, to contemporary 

 physics only, the march of ideas has not been less remarkable than 

 progress of discoveiy. Theory and practice have advanced side 

 side. Boldness of speculation has attained the same height as skil 

 experimentation. It ma} r be said in this connection that the evohr 

 of theories compares favorably with the marvelous developme* 

 facts, and the philosophy of science with science itself. This we ^avc 

 previously attempted to show to our readers in our essaj^s on osmose, 

 on cryoseopy, and on tonometry; here we wish to examine from the 

 same point of view ideas that have accumulated in recent years con- 

 cerning cathode rays, Rontgen rays, and on the radio-activity of 



matter. 



1. 



The term "cathode rays' 1 was suggested in 1SS3 b} T the well-known 

 physicist, Wiedemann, who had been engaged in studying them, but 

 tin 1 object to which the name was applied was not entirely new. 

 Cathode rays had several years before occasioned celebrated experi- 

 ments in the hands of an English scientist, W. Crookes, long well 

 known through other original investigations. The beautiful experi- 

 ments of Crookes, disseminated by their author throughout Europe, 

 had attracted the attention not merely of the majority of physicists, 



a Translated from the Revue des Deux Mondes, Dec. 1, 1901. 



L'71 



