INTRA-ATOMIC ENERGY. 27 1 



The foundations on which these ideas were established seemed to be 

 so solid that they would defy the inroads of time. We shall, how- 

 ever, endeavor to show that new facts tend to successful!}' undermine 

 them. 



ThetransfonnatioH of matter lntocneT(iy. — A material S3\stem isolated 

 from all external action can not spontaneously generate energy. If we 

 suppose it to be endowed with an internal energy, chemical or other- 

 wise, its (piantity of energy will remain invarial)leas long* as the system 

 is subject onl}^ to internal action. This is one of the great principles 

 of thermo-dynamics. 



All past scientific observations seemed to entirely confirm this idea, 

 that no substance can produce energy Avithout having- first borrowed 

 it from without. All thermo-ehemistry is based on the principle that 

 "the heat disengaged or absorl)ed in the decomposition of a body is 

 exactly equal, and contrary in sign to that which it has been necessary 

 to employ for its transformation." 



To cause the disappearance of this sharp separation we have just 

 noted it is necessary to succeed in transforming matter into energy 

 without furnishing anything from without. Now it is just this spon- 

 taneous transformation that is shown us by all the experiments I 

 have cited on the radio-activity of matter. The spontaneous produc- 

 tion of energy thus shown, so at variance with current scientific ideas, 

 has much embarrassed physicists, who have tried in vain to discover, 

 outside of the matter afitected, the origin of the energy manifested by 

 it. We have seen that the explanation becomes very simple as soon 

 as we consent to admit, in accordance with the clearest evidence, that 

 matter contains a reserve of energy which it can partially lose, either 

 spontaneously or under slight exciting influences. It may doubtless 

 be said that it is not really matter that is transformed into energy, but 

 merely an intra-atomic energy that is given out. Yet, as this energy 

 of intra-atomic origin can not be generated without the final disappear- 

 ance of matter, we are justified in saying that this is just what would 

 happen if matter were transformed into energy. To state this more 

 fully it would first be necessary to understand the intimate nature of 

 matter and energy, which no one thus far has been a))le to do. 



Tlie tTanait'ton hdireen the jjorxJerahh' (md the iiitpo)i<lei'ahle — Propet^- 

 ties of the mihstarice intermediate 'between matter and etKer. — We have 

 now reached the second of the propositions above enunciated as one of 

 the great scientific dogmas of the present day. namely, that the ponder- 

 able and the imponderable, that is to say, matter and ether, are abso- 

 lutel}' distinct, and that there is no connection between them. 



In order to prove that this is not the case, we nnist show that the 

 effluvia generated by all bodies during their dissociation consist of a 

 substance having characters intermediate between those of ether and 

 those of matter. 



