2=iO 



KNOWLEDGE & SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[October, 1905. 



Some New Discoveries 



in the 



Field of Radio Activity. 



IJy Ur. Alfred CIkadenwitz. 



I'erhaps no field of modern physics is being- so in- 

 tensely investig-ated as is radio-activity, and none has 

 sjained such popularity, even with those who g^enerallv 

 are strangers to natural philosophy. The phenomena 

 in question, which were originally attributed only to 

 some exceptional class of bodies, have recently been 

 found to be common to any one of the bodies, either 

 inorganic or organic, contained on earth. 



Dr. Th. Tommasina, of Geneva, Switzerland, who is 

 one of the pioneers in this branch of science, has lately 

 discovered a special kind of radio-activity which he 

 calls pyroradio-activil y ; this is the radio-active power 

 taken by a wire charged with negative electricity, as it 

 is heated. Such a wire will induce radio-activitv in 

 any substance submitted to its action, so that a means 

 of activating these without the help of radium is thus 

 forthcoming. 



On continuing his researches on these lines, Dr. 

 Tommasina, however, soon discovered a method of 

 imparting radio-activitv to a substance of any descrip- 

 tion. In fact, on account of the peculiar electric stale 

 or ionisalion, as it is called, produced by X-rays in the 

 S'jrrounding medium, any substance placed in the latter 

 will become radio-active. 



It is thus sufficient to have at one's disposal any suit- 

 able outfit for generating X-rays, to impart to any sub- 

 stance a fairly strong radio-activity which may last for 

 some days. Even living organisms are liable to be 

 radio-activated without suffering any trouble, as the 

 Rontgen rays need not strike the subject. The Ront- 

 gen bulb may. for instance, be located in a cabinet left 

 ajar, the rays being directed towards its interior, so 

 that the "ionisation" of the air is propagated gradu- 

 ally by diffusion. 



This opens up a field to a possible medical applica- 

 tion of radio-activity, which the necessity of using 

 radium, or other radio-active bodies Cexerting efTects 

 highly prejudicial U> the skin), had so far prevented. 



In fact, patients can now be activated without any 

 trouble to them, and even while in bed, it being suffi- 

 cient to place the latter on insulating supports, and to 

 connect the patient to the inner armature of a Levden 

 jar, the outer armature of which is grounded, as is the 

 positive terminal of the induction coil. Between the 



Fift. I. 



negative terminal Oif the induction coil and tile inner 

 armature of the Leyden jar, rapid electrical discharges 

 are allowed to pass. By this means a fairly strong 

 radio-activity can readily be produced. 



Any solid body, both inert and orgjuiised (such as 

 fruit, gra.ss, and live animals), as well as any kind of 

 conductive or insulating liquids, have thus lieen made 

 radio-;iclive. .\ny drugs, both for internal and external 

 use, and any material used for bandaires, compresses, 

 etc., as well as any .solid or liquid food intended for a 

 special diet, may furthermore be radio-activated by this 

 method without introducing any trace of radium or a 

 similar radio-active body. 



As regards the therapeutical properties of this radio- 

 activity, nf)thing definite can, so far, be stated ; any 

 such phenomena are, however, found to be attended I v 

 "ionisation," which is f:ivourable to electrolysis, and 

 may even give rise to it. In that c.nsc a rather wel- 

 come action with a view to a rapid and comple'.c 

 assimilation of certain medicaments, such as iron in 

 the cure of an.cmia, niifiht be anticipatd. Moreover, 

 radio-activity being apparently the cau.sc of the thera- 

 peutical properties of cert:iin mineral waters, these m:ty 

 be augmented by increasing their radio-activity on the 

 lines above mentioned. 



In connection with the above experiments, Tom- 

 masina noted that, apart from the temporary radio- 

 activity which may be imparted to animals and plants, 



