August 2, 1901.] 



SCIENCE. 



167 



neon, krypton, radium, polonium, etc., and 

 seem to have facts in direct opposition to 

 our ideas. Over a century ago the same 

 Eichter noted resemblances of what chem- 

 ists now term elements. Lavoisier b}' chem- 

 ical and physical means proved the law of 

 conservation of matter. Then Dalton as- 

 cribed weights to these elements composing 

 matter, from which came our satisfactory 

 atomic theory. None of these, as well as 

 Joule's masterful proof of the conservation 

 of energy, was possible without a medium 

 of expression, namely mathematics, whereby 

 the necessary comparison of weights and 

 other measurements could be made. The 

 triads of Dobereiner and Dumas, and New- 

 lands' octaves foreshadowed a periodicity in 

 atomic properties as later clearly and defin- 

 itely set forth by Mendeleeflf and Lothar 

 Meyer. This periodic law, so long accepted, 

 has had shadows cast upon its universality 

 by the failure of scientists so far to satisfac- 

 torily arrange the new elements noted (and 

 several old ones) in accord with it. Natur- 

 ally we lend ourselves to the thought that 

 this is due to our insufficient knowledge of 

 these novel and striking members of the 

 chemical family. 



Prout may not have been so far wrong in 

 conception when he asserted that all the 

 elements were compounded of hydrogen, 

 then known to have the lowest of all atomic 

 weights. Stas's classical researches and re- 

 determinations of the atomic weights and 

 Morley's accurate proof of the mass rela- 

 tions of hydrogen and oxygen prevent abso- 

 lutely the acceptance of the fact of the state- 

 ment, but the germ of thought bears fruit. 

 The idea is still prevalent, and Crookes has 

 termed that initial, universal substance of 

 which all else is composed, protyle. In fact, 

 J. J. Thomson has only recently, in very 

 wonderful researches on electric discharges 

 in gases, been able ingeniously to demon- 

 stx'ate, by mathematical interpretation of 

 the experimental results, that the atom is 



made up of a number of smaller bodies, 

 which he terms corpuscles. 



Thus we are brought almost face to face 

 with the most ancient alchemical teachings. 

 Within recent years, Hartley, thoroughly 

 orthodox, has written that " one element in 

 a group differs in its properties from another 

 not because it consists of another kind of 

 matter, but because the quantity of matter 

 in an atom is different." While we are not. 

 inclined to give over-serious consideratioiL 

 to Fittica's recent assertion that he has 

 actually transmuted phosphorus into arsenic 

 under one set of conditions and into anti- 

 mony under another, doubtless later trans- 

 mutation will become an experimental fact j 

 not that all our base metal will be converted 

 into a precious one, but we shall secure 

 more refined methods and further decom- 

 pose our present elements ; or the increased 

 number of elements, yearly augmented, 

 shall give us a more perfect periodicity, dem- 

 onstrating the relationship of the elements 

 and their unity without requiring the ac- 

 tual experimental proof. The speculative 

 hylozoists may thus have foretold events. 



We have other experimental evidence 

 pointing in the direction indicated. Some 

 of our chemistries, not so long ago, dogmat- 

 ically taught that hydrogen was the lightest 

 known gas and impossible of liquefaction ; 

 or if it could be solidified, it would be me- 

 tallic in character. Dewar, Olzewsky and 

 Wroblewsky have secured that gas as a 

 limpid liquid by intense refrigeration in 

 vacuum-jacketed apparatus. And but re- 

 cently the first named in classical researches 

 reduced the temperature of liquid hydrogen 

 to within eighteen degrees of the absolute 

 zero (— 255° C.) and obtained white, crys- 

 talline, solid hydrogen. These researches 

 with extreme cold and Moissan working at 

 from three to four thousand degrees give us 

 the widest ranges of temperature. The 

 latter has already secured many elements 

 hitherto regarded as non-volatile in a gas- 



