Jl LY 3, HI03.] 



SCIENCE. 



31 



nieiit of radium was brought into its vicinity, 

 and in another experiment showed that it 

 facilitated the passage of the electric spark, 

 lie went on to describe the different radia- 

 tions given off by the substance and to dis- 

 tinguish them according to their power of 

 penetration, absorptibility, behavior in a mag- 

 netic field, etc. He then explained that, in 

 addition to these radiations, radium also gave 

 off emanations which had the same properties 

 as the substance itself — properties which were 

 included in the term radioactivity. The salts 

 of radium in solution gave off this radio- 

 activity, and were able to render other objects 

 of all sorts radioactive. In this emanation, 

 for example, a charged electroscope was dis- 

 charged, and a phosiihoreseent substance be- 

 came luminous. The emanation behaved in 

 many ways like a gas. It could be aspirated 

 through a tube, it could be condensed by 

 liquid air, and after being frozen out of a 

 \essel would diffuse throughout it again when 

 the temperature was allowed to rise. These 

 phenomena were illustrated by a very pretty 

 experiment, in which a vessel containing a 

 weak solution of radium chloride was con- 

 nected by a tube to another vessel containing 

 some sulphide of zinc. So long as the stop- 

 cock on the tube connecting the two vessels 

 was closed the sulphide of zinc did not phos- 

 phoresce, but as soon as it was opened the 

 luminous effect appeared. Returning to the 

 heat disengaged by radium, the lecturer 

 proved the reality of the phenomenon by the 

 aid of what he said was in fact a liquid air 

 calorimeter. A small piece of glass was 

 lowered into a carefully isolated vacuum- 

 flask containing liquid air, and the amount 

 of gas that boiled off in a given time was 

 measured. The experiment was then re- 

 peated, but instead of the plain piece of glass 

 a small vessel, identical in size, containing 

 radium was substituted, with the result that 

 in the same time the quantity of gas given 

 off was seen to be more than doubled. Pro- 

 fessor Curie concluded with a slight reference 

 to some other properties of radium, its chem- 

 ical effects, its place in the periodic table of 

 the elements, its power of producing sores 



on the skin and even of inducing paralysis, 

 and the character of its spectrum. Lie also 

 gave a brief account of the studies which led 

 Mme. Curie and himself to the recognition 

 of it and other radioactive bodies, and touched 

 on the speculations suggested by the phenom- 

 ena it presented as to the evolution of matter 

 and the gradual transformation of the ele- 

 ments. 



rynERsrry amj edicatioxal .ybivs. 



The state appropriations for the University 

 of Illinois this year reached the wholly un- 

 precedented sum of $1,2()0,000. The sum of 

 $150,000 was given for enlarging the engineer- 

 ing equipment. The College of Agriculture 

 received $100,000 for equipment and instruc- 

 tional work, and the experiment station asso- 

 ciated with the college received $170,000 for 

 research work. The ordinary operating fund 

 of the university was increased about $100,000 

 per year which will make this fund about 

 $350,000 per year. The library fund was 

 doubled, being made $20,000 per year. The 

 sum of $80,000 was voted for a Woman's 

 Building. The sum of $14,400 was given for 

 the maintenance of the department of com- 

 merce. The smaller appropriations included 

 $10,000 for cabinets, collections, apparatus, 

 etc., and $10,000 for equipping the chemical 

 laboratory. 



At the eighty-sixth commencement of 

 Hamilton College, President Stryker an- 

 nounced a gift of $100,000 in U. S. Steel 

 Corporation bonds from Mr. Andrew Car- 

 negie, in recognition of the public service 

 of Secretary Root, a graduate of Hamilton. 

 Mr. Carnegie has also given $50,000 to Beloit 

 College for a library building. 



Colby College has received gifts amount- 

 ing to $46,000, including $20,000 from the 

 estate of S. S. Smith, D.D., the author of 

 the hjTnn ' America,' and formerly trustee 

 and professor of the college. 



The board of regents have completed ar- 

 rangements for creating a school of applied 

 science in the State University of Iowa. A 

 professorship in electrical and mechanical 

 engineering was created. Professor C. S. 



