46 THOUGHTS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 



inferior to those given above, but still colossal, have 

 been arrived at. The measurements of Curie prove 

 that one gramme of radium emits 100 calorie- 

 grammes an hour, which would give 876,000 calories 

 per annum. If the life of a gramme of radium is 

 1,000 years, as is supposed, by transforming these 

 calories into kilogrammetres at the rate of 1,125 

 Jdlogrammetres per great calorie, the immensity of 

 the figures obtained will readily appear. Necessarily, 

 these calories, high as is their number, only represent 

 an insignificant part of the intra-atomic energy, since 

 the latter is expended in various radiations. 



The fact of the existence of a considerable con- 

 densation of energy within the atoms only seems to 

 jar on us because it is outside the range of things 

 formerly taught us by experience; it should, how- 

 ever, be remarked that, even leaving on one side 

 the facts revealed by radio-activity, analogous con- 

 centrations are daily observable. Is it not strikingly 

 evident, in fact, that electricity must exist at an 

 enormous degree of accumulation in chemical com- 

 pounds, since it is found by the electrolysis of water 

 that one gramme of hydrogen possesses an electric 

 charge of 96,000 coulombs ? One gets an idea of 

 the degree of condensation at which the electricity 

 existed before its liberation, from the fact that the 

 quantity above mentioned is immensely superior to 

 what we are able to maintain on the largest surfaces 

 at our disposal. Elementary treatises have long 

 since pointed out that barely a twentieth part of 

 the above quantity would suffice to charge a globe 

 Ihe size of the earth to a potential of 6,000 volts. 



