58 



SCIENCE. 



THE FOURTH STATE OF MATTER. 



A REFUTATION. 

 Translated for " Science" by Gustave G laser, Phil. D. 



It may interest the readers of " SCIENCE " to know the 

 opinion held in Germany respecting those phenomena 

 which led Mr. W. Crookes to believe he had discovered a 

 fourth state of matter. For this purpose we have trans- 

 lated and abridged an article by Dr. J. Puluj, the well- 

 known scientist of Vienna, published in the " Chemiker 

 Zeitung :" 



According to Mr. Puluj, the beautiful experiments of 

 W. Hittorf published in 1869, under the title " Electrical 

 Conductibility of Gases," have received too little attention 

 from our scientists, it may be, on account of the modest 

 title. The scientific labors of Goldstein, and some inter- 

 esting researches of Reitinger and Urbanitzky have met 

 with the same fate. W. Crookes, the renowned English 

 chemist, to whom the writings of the above-named gen- 

 tlemen were evidently unknown, made similar experi- 

 ments, the results of which did not differ essentially from 

 those of Mr. Hittorf. His conclusions were, however, 

 entirely new ; he declared that his experiments proved a 

 fourth state of matter. 



The conception was daring, still more daring the hopes 

 which he and his friends based upon the discovery of 

 " radiant matter." The cause of these high expectations 

 is the following : When an electrical inductive current 

 is led through a molten glass tube in which the air is at- 

 tenuated to ,-uVo °f i ts density, there appears on the nega- 

 tive pole a blue (glimmering) light, which is separated by 

 a dark space from the cluster of light at the positive pole. 

 If a greater attenuation takes place, the cluster of light 

 disappears and the glimmering light floats over the whole 

 tube, while at the same time, next the electrode a second 

 dark space appears which becomes greater with the 

 greater attenuation. If the attenuation still further in- 

 creases, the dark space fills the whole tube and the glass 

 walls shine in a brilliant, green, phosphorescent light. 

 Mr. Crookes now believes that this phenomenon of phos- 

 phorescence comes from the remaining gas, which at this 

 high state of attenuation has passed into an ultra-gaseous 

 state, a "fourth state of matter." 



But these phenomena are very different at a higher 

 pressure. Direct measurements have shown that the 

 phosphorescence does not appear at the millionth attenu- 

 ation, and that the thirty thousandth attenuation is suffi- 

 cient to produce it. Besides, this attenuated gas retains 

 its characteristic properties, which could not be the case 

 if by this attenuation it became dissolved into the original 

 molecules which form, as Mr. Crookes says, the basis of 

 all. 



That the physical properties of this remaining matter 

 are not changed, but remain in strict accordance with the 

 kinetic theory ot gases, also proves that we have no new 

 state, but simply a gaseous state of matter. For example, 

 the above-mentioned phenomena, in experimenting with 

 the lighter gases, are visible at a lower altenuation than 

 in experimenting with the heavier gases. The supposi- 

 tion of the renowned chemist, Dumas, that our elements 

 are only chemical combinations of higher order, and com- 

 plicated aggregates of primitive molecules, has, un- 

 doubtedly, much probability about it, but even the 

 strongest electrical currents, and the highest tempera- 

 tures, have not been able to produce this final dissolution 

 ol the elements, therefore it is not likely that a high atten- 

 11a ton can. 



Dr. I'uluj's experiments go to show that Mr. Crookes' 



tiled radiant matter ••consists of negative electric 



particles," which are torn off from the negative electrode 



and hurled away with immense rapidity. These elect- 



rode particles form a very beautiful metallic mirror on 

 the glass walls. [Aluminum particles are the only ones 

 which form no metallic deposits. This may be accounted 

 for by their chemical constitution.] The conduction of 

 the current, therefore, is effected by the convection of the 

 electrode particles, in which static electricity is accumu- 

 lated. We have here a case of molecular electric con- 

 vection, analogous to that observed by Mr. Rowland in 

 his experiments. This gentleman has demonstrated that 

 when a movable horizontally placed metal ring, charged 

 with static, positive or negative, electricity is made to 

 rotate around a vertical axis, it will divert a magnetic 

 needle suspended above it, in the same manner, as if an 

 electric positive or negative current were to move in the 

 same direction with, or in an opposite direction from, the 

 rotation. These experiments of Rowland lead to the infer- 

 ence that an infinitely small electrical globe, in our case 

 an electrode particle, will have a similar influence upen 

 a magnet. As long as the globe and magnet are at rest, 

 it is to be expected that no alternate effect will appear, 

 but that this will be produced as soon as the little globe 

 is put into violent motion. Because the electrode par- 

 ticles are negative electric, they represent a positive 

 e ectric current, which moves in an opposite direction 

 from the former. The electrode particles in motion are, 

 therefore, real elements of an electric current, and are 

 subjected to the law of Laplace. Their deviation takes 

 place according to the following simple law : If we 

 imagine that a plane is placed through the direction of 

 the motion of the electrode-particle and through the 

 north pole of the magnet, and suppose that a man is 

 lying upon this electrode particle in the direction of the 

 motion, and looking towards the north pole, then the 

 electrode-particle will be diverted towards the left hand 

 of this man, vertical to the imagined plane. This simple 

 law gives a sufficient explanation for all the phenomena 

 which a magnet produces in the radiant electrode-matter, 

 and which were observed by Mr. Crookes as well as by 

 Mr. Reitinger and Uibanitzky. It proves that the glim- 

 mering light at the negative pole is not a " magnetic " 

 light, but the consequence of a molecular electrical con- 

 vection, and it justifies the supposition that an electrified 

 current or vapor which is led through a tube will deviate 

 the magnetic needle in the same manner as an electrical 

 current going through a telegraph wire. 



The law of the indestructibility of force has already 

 solved many problems which puzzled the scientist of 

 earlier centuries. According to the same law, we must 

 assume that when infinitely small projectiles of radiant 

 electrode matter are hurled against the glass walls of the 

 tube their motion is changed into molecular motion, and 

 the glass walls are heated by the collisions, sometimes 

 even to the melting point ; but at a lower temperature 

 the rays which are not very much concentrated only pro- 

 duce a phosphorescent light of the glass. 



The extremely fine matter called ether, which fills all 

 space and pierces all bodies, surrounds the molecules, as 

 the atmosphere surrounds our globe. Each body and 

 each molecule has in its normal state a certain quantity 

 of this ether. When this quantity is greater than the 

 normal quantity, the molecules, according to the " unita- 

 rian view " of elasticity, are positive electric ; when it is 

 smaller, they are negative electric. 



Supposing now that a collision takes place between 

 the negative electrode particles and the molecules of the 

 glass walls of the tube, then the equilibrium will be re- 

 stored at each point of collision and the molecules of the 

 glass will lose their surplus of ether. At the same time 

 a motion of the waves of ether will be observed, and this 

 motion is felt by our optical nerves as phosphorescent 

 light. Therefore the phosphorescence observed by W. 

 ( rookes is the result of the restoration of the ether-equi- 

 librium and not of the heating of the glass, whose tem- 

 perature during the appearance of this phenomenon is 

 comparatively low. 



