266 INTRA-ATOMIC ENERGY. 



It seems pro)ml)le that tlie property possessed by radio-active ema- 

 nations of condensing- tiie vapor of water is due to material particles 

 carried along- by their radiating- force, especially if we consider these 

 particles as electriti(Kl. This is a property common to all dusts, as can 

 be easily shown by the following- well-known experiment: A glass 

 receiver containing water in -a state of ebulliti(^n communicates, by glass 

 tubes, with two other receivers, one filled Avith ordinary air taken from 

 the room, the other with air deprived of its dust by simple filtration 

 through cotton wool. The water A^apor entering the receiA^er contain- 

 ing- the dust-lad(Mi air immediately condenses into a thick fog, Avhile 

 that entering the other receiA'er remains transparent. 



Sec'TIOX 3. — Liifra-tiioiii'ic fnrwt^ as a Njfeclal foDii of cnerijy. 



A\ lien radio-active bodies Avere discovered physicists did not take the 

 pains to m(>asure the amoiuit of energA^ liberated during- their disso- 

 ciation, l»ut vainh' sought and still continue to seek some external 

 source from AVhich these bodies might derive that energ-y. It is, in 

 fact, considered as an absolutely fundamental principle that matter 

 can only giA'c l)ack in some form or other energ-y it has previously 

 received. 



NoAA% since all pliA'sicists are to-day unanimous in afhrming- that the 

 products (A all kinds of radio-activit}' are similar; and since, on the 

 other hand, the energy necessary for the emitting into space effluvia 

 haA'ing- the velocity that the radio-active particles possess is inmiensely 

 superior to that Ave are al)le to produce by the A^arious forces at our 

 disposal, is it not evident that it is not outside of matter but Avithin 

 matter itself that Ave nmst seek for the source of the energy expended? 

 This liberated energy is the consequence of intra-atomic reactions 

 which Ave shall shorth' consider and which differ essentially from the 

 extra-atomic reactions that come under the domain of cht^mistry, cA^en 

 if in no other Ava}', ])y the enormous magnitude of the effects produced. 



If this is so — and it is not possible to conceive that it should be 

 otherAvise — we are imniediatel}' led to look upon the atoms that make 

 up matter as immense reservoirs of energ-}'. The}' ma}' manifest this 

 energ-y without borrowing from without, since it exists within them- 

 selves where it Avas accumulated at the time of their formation. 



What are the fundamental characteristics of this hitherto ignored 

 energy which Ave may call simply intra-atomic energy? 



It differs from all others with which Ave are acquainted l)y its pro- 

 digious poAver. If, instead of dissociating- only a few niillionths of a 

 milligi'ain of matter, as Ave do noAv, we could succeed in dissociating 

 some kilograms, Ave Avould have, as Ave shall show, a source of energy 

 compared Avith Avhich all the motors coml>ined now di'iven by coal 

 Avould present an insigniticiuit total. It is because of the amount of 



