166 SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY 



or Th. We will see. I have expts. on now to try whether Al, 

 In and Te give B ; and whether Bi gives N 2 . I think I can 

 detect these." 



Again (25th July, 1907) we find : 



" I am now trying to see whether the sodium one finds is real, 

 by using a silica bulb. ... I am pretty sure that Na must be 

 formed, for Na is a much commoner element than Li in nature, 

 and if copper is to be degraded it would more likely go to the 

 stable form of Na father than to the less common, and therefore 

 probably more unstable form of Li. Also I want to be dead 

 certain that argon is not derived from the atmosphere. . . . The 

 next shot would be to try some heavier metal, say gold, and see 

 if krypton will not be formed from the emanation. Gold, too, 

 should give alkali metals." 



In a letter to Dr. Travers (20th May, 1907) Ramsay 

 says: 



" I have got lithium from copper for the third time ; and 

 Cameron, one of our students, is repeating so as to give a final 

 check. It will be done in a month and a half, say by the end 

 of June." 



The uninitiated will be unable to appreciate the 

 enormous difficulties attending such investigations, the 

 extreme minuteness of the quantities to be dealt with in 

 the endeavour to recognise the products and the practical 

 impossibility of completely excluding impurities derived 

 from the air, the water employed and the surfaces of 

 the glass, silica or metallic vessels necessarily employed. 

 Ramsay himself knew all about this, no one better, and 

 in dealing with the emanation itself when using the 



