1898.] 



Reflection of Rontgen Rays. 



397 



radiation emitted from ionization will be more symmetrically 

 distributed than that previously investigated and so there will be 

 less difference of intensity between the secondary radiation in the 

 direction of the primary ray and that in a direction at right 

 angles to it. 



Ionization (if sudden) may thus be expected to give rise to 

 rays having properties similar to those of the secondary Rontgen 

 rays. E. Wiedemann 1 has shown that an electric discharge gives 

 rise to rays to which he has given the name "Entladungstrahlen " ; 

 these rays can pass through substances opaque to light and are not 

 deflected by a magnet. Now the electric discharge is accompanied 



+ 



Fig. 2. 



by ionization of the gas through which the discharge passes and, 

 though this ionization is probably not of so sudden a character as 

 that produced by Rontgen rays, Wiedemann's experiments seem to 

 show that it is rapid enough to give rise to rays having properties 

 analogous to the secondary Rontgen rays. It seems not impossible 

 that in the case of a complicated structure like the uranium atom 

 regrouping of the constituents of the atom may give rise to 

 electrical effects similar to those which occur in ionization and 

 might possibly be the origin of the uranium radiation. 



1 Zeitschrift fur Elektroehemie, n. p. 159, 1895. 



VOL. IX. PT. VIII. 



33 



