The Experiments of Ramsay 



action can give an idea. The measurements 

 made by M. and Mme. Curie and by Rutherford 

 show that in the process of becoming helium 

 one cubic centimetre of emanation liberates a 

 quantity of energy 3,600,000 times greater than is 

 produced by the explosion of a like volume of 

 the explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. 

 This process is, however, gradual, lasting about a 

 month, and moreover, the energy appears not 

 only in the form of heat, but also of light and 

 a /5 j and 7 rays. 



This result is of the greatest importance; it 

 places at our disposal a new and unprecedented 

 source of energy. It is therefore reasonable to 

 hope that the power freed by the disintegration 

 of radium will subject matter to profound modi- 

 fication, and that a body sufficiently energetic to 

 decompose itself will prove capable of transform- 

 ing all elements brought into contact with it. 

 This was the guiding thought of Sir William 

 Ramsay and the motive of the experiments 

 which he has been patiently carrying out for 

 three years, with a skill as rare as it is necessary 

 in such researches, where only the minutest 

 quantity of material is available and a few cubic 



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