INTRA-ATOMIC ENERGY." 



Bv (irsTAVK Le Box. 



Sectk )N 1.-7 \r)'j><>sc of ill IX j>(ij)er. 



J 11 l!>0^ we published a paper on the dissoeiatiou of matter, in which 

 were detailed the results of certain experiments. Continuing the 

 investigations on this sul)ject, pursued for some years past, we resumed 

 our experiments, and these ha>e tinally shown that the phenomenon 

 of radio-activity, that is to say, the dissociation of atoms, at tirst 

 supposed to lie peculiar to certain exceptional l^odies, such as uranium 

 and radium, is, on the contrary, a general property of matter, and 

 consequentl}' one of the most widely diffused phenomena of nature. 



The aptitude of bodies to become disaggregated, emitting effluvia 

 analogous to the cathodic rays, and, like them, capable of traversing 

 material substances and generating X rays, is universal. Light 

 impinging upon any substance whatever, the ]»urning of a lamp, 

 chemical reactions of very diverse characters, an electric discharge, 

 etc., may cause these effluvia. The bodies designated as radio-active 

 substances, such as radium, only show in a higher degree a phenome- 

 non which all matter possesses in some degree. 



Section 2. — Phe7i<nnena ohst'vrcd duniKj the dissociation of matter'. 



The radio-activity of matter, its dissociation, is always manifested 

 by the emission into space of effluvia having a velocity comparable to 

 that of light and possessing qualities analogous to those of cathodic 

 rays, notably the qualit}^ of producing X rays as soon as they encoun- 

 ter an obstacle. 



Numerous experiments have detinitely shown the source of the vari- 

 ous radio-active emissions. Whether they come from the cathode of 

 g, (Brookes tube, from the radiation of a metal under the action of 

 light, or fi'om the radiation of bodies spontaneousl}' radio-active, such 

 as uranium, thorium, etc., these elfluvia are of the same nature. The}' 



undergo the same magnetic deflection; the relation of their charge 



^ ^ lit *= 



to their mass is the same. Their N'clocity alone varies, but is always 

 very great. 



"Translateil and condensfil from tlic Iicvuf Sck'nti(i(jUf, 4th Herie^, \o\. XX, 

 Nos. 1(), 17, and 18. 



SM iiiu3 ly ^^ 



