January 3, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



27 



The results are in close agreement with those 

 that have been obtained by other methods. 

 The Hypothesis of Radiant Matter: Morris 



LOEB. 



Dr. Morris Loeb reviewed the present status 

 of the hypothesis of radiant matter. He 

 showed that the Electron Hypothesis rests 

 partly upon the Lorenz-Maxwell electro- 

 magnetic theory of light, especially as ex- 

 empliiied in the Zeeman eifect, and partly 

 upon the electro-conductivity of gases, as 

 studied by J. J. Thomson and others. To this 

 must be added the various phenomena of the 

 electric discharge in vacuo as well as of the 

 radiations from thorium, uranium and ra- 

 dium, which are likewise explained upon the 

 assumption of small particles actually pro- 

 pelled from the electrodes or expelled from the 

 atoms. This has led further to the idea of a 

 coi-puscular structure of the atom, for which 

 corroboration is sought in the apparent de- 

 composition of the elements, the " degrada- 

 tion " of those of higher into others of lower 

 atomic mass. In the opinions of many, the 

 constituent corpuscles are themselves not 

 matter but electric disturbances of the ether. 

 Dr. Loeb pointed out certain discrepancies be- 

 tween various parts of the theory, which must 

 be explained away, before it could be accepted 

 as a whole. Thus, measurements upon the 

 Zeeman effect indicate a very small number 

 of electrons; while Rutherford's transforma- 

 tion hypothesis calls for a very large number 

 of freely moving particles within the atom. 

 A nebular or corpuscular structure of the 

 atoms would give the electrons of the cathode 

 rays a so much greater free path, than would 

 result from the existence of atoms as solid 

 bodies, that it becomes difficult to account for 

 the various phenomena attending increasing 

 rarefaction in the Orookes tube upon the 

 kinetic reasoning usually applied. The 

 speaker also showed that most of Thomson's 

 calculations upon the speed and masses of the 

 electrons, which are usually cited as showing 

 the non-existence of matter, really depend 

 upon the arbitrary assumption that the numer- 

 ator rather than the denominator of the ratio 

 e/m is a constant; while he really transfers 



the chief attributes of matter to energy, with- 

 out, as a matter of fact, reducing the number 

 of our fundamental ideas. Discussing the re- 

 cent experiments of Cameron and Ramsay, he 

 argued that the appearance of sodium and 

 lithium in a copper nitrate solution, exposed 

 to the emanation from radium, could not be 

 taken as proof for the decomposition of cop- 

 per, until a corresponding loss of the latter 

 metal shall have been demonstrated. It will 

 be remembered that Cameron and Ramsay 

 ascl-ibe the transformation of the emanation 

 into helium, the lightest of the inert gases, to 

 the bombardment of a particles ; when water is 

 present to take up some of the energy, neon 

 is produced; while copper salts still further 

 shield the emanation atoms, so that they are 

 only degraded to argon, the heaviest member 

 of the series. In view of the great excess of 

 water-molecules in the copper nitrate solu- 

 tion, Dr. Loeb holds that this hypothesis calls 

 for the presence of a great deal of neon, mixed 

 in with the argon, while Ramsay and Cameron 

 emphasize its absence. 



The Stereochemistry of Indigo: K. Geo. Falk 

 and J. M. Nelson. 



Experiments upon Barfoed's Acid Oupric 

 Acetate Solution as a Means of Distinguish- 

 ing Glucose from Maltose, Lactose and 

 Sucrose: F. C. Hinkel and H. C. Sher- 

 man. 0. M. Joyce, 



Secretary 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



TWO NEW METEORITES 



Ainsworth Meteorite. — This siderite, to 

 which I propose to give the name of the town 

 near which it was found, was recently pur- 

 chased from Mr. J. C. Toliver. It was found 

 last winter by one of Mr. W. G. Townsend's 

 little boys, who called his father's attention to 

 it, partly buried in the sand beside a small 

 creek in Brown Co., Nebraska, about six miles 

 northwest of Ainsworth. It measures approxi- 

 mately 4J X 6 X 7^ inches, and weighs 23J 

 pounds (10.65 kilograms). The specific grav- 

 ity of the whole mass is 7.85. A fractured 

 surface — showing beautifully the coarse octo- 

 hedral structure — on one of the sharper edges 



