EXPLORING THE ATOM 



radioactive substance. And this would clearly sug- 

 gest the possibility that a means may ultimately be 

 found to disrupt any and all of the elementary atoms. 



It is an observed fact that the spontaneous disrup- 

 tion of the atoms of the very heavy substance 

 uranium, through the throwing off of helium atoms, 

 results in due course in so lessening the weight of 

 the uranium molecule that it becomes a molecule of 

 radium, and this in turn undergoes successive trans- 

 formations associated with the throwing out of the 

 helium atoms, leading, it is believed, to an end 

 product that is the familiar substance lead. This 

 substance shows no tendency to continue the process 

 of disruption. But if an artificial means could be 

 found to cause the atom of lead to throw out two 

 helium atoms, we should have its weight reduced 

 substantially to that of the atom of gold. 



These are the facts which justify Sir William Ram- 

 say in declaring that it seems within the possibilities 

 that we shall ultimately be able to transform lead into 

 gold. If Professors Collie and Patterson have ac- 

 complished what their more sanguine critics think 

 they have accomplished, we are clearly one step 

 nearer to this alchemistic miracle. In any event, the 

 new knowledge that observation of the radioactive 

 substances has given us, puts the possibility of such 

 a transmutation of metals on an entirely new scien- 

 tific footing. What the atomic chemistry of the 

 nineteenth century seemed to prove impossible 

 seems now to lie well within the bounds of credi- 

 bility, though doubtless still far enough from actual 

 accomplishment. 



125 



