Chemistry and Physics. 391 



that he has discovered new radiations from the sun which he 

 terms the n-rays, A fine glass tube containing sulphide of cal- 

 cium exposed to the sun for a very short time continued to 

 glow, but the glow diminished when a plate of lead was inter- 

 posed between the shutter and the sulphide, and increased when 

 the lead was removed. When an oaken joist 3°°^ thick, a piece 

 of cardboard, and several sheets of aluminum were successively 

 interposed there was no diminution in the glow. A layer of 

 pure water entirely arrested the ?i-radiations. The radiations could 

 be concentrated by a quartz lens. They are regularly reflected by 

 a polished glass surface, and diffused by an unpolished surface. 



— Comptes Rendus^ 24. JSFature, July 9, 1003. j. t. 



8. Spectra of the Cathode light in Gaseous Compounds of 

 J^itrogen and Carbon, — M. H. Deslandres states that the 

 cathode light gives the same spectrum as the anode light in the 

 luminous part of the spectrum and also between A = 400 and 

 \ = 300, but from A = 300 to A — 200 a new band spectrum is 

 observed having a remarkably simple relation between its bands. 



— Comptes Mendiis, Sept. 14, 1903. j. t. 



9. The Dark Cathode Space. — Numerous papers have appeared 

 on the analogy between conduction in gases and electrolytic con- 

 duction in fluids. G. C. Schmidt extends the analogy to a con- 

 sideration of the phenomena in the dark cathode space and founds 

 a theory upon Nernst's theory of the electrolysis of certain water 

 solutions. A soluble electrode is one which sends electrons or 

 ions into the gas; an insoluble one which cannot. White hot 

 electrodes and electrodes from which cathode rays are emitted 

 are considered soluble ; also light electric metals that emit elec- 

 trons on exposure to light. This theory is borne in mind in the 

 author's experiments. The dark cathode space is regarded as a 

 space poor in ions. The fall in potential is also considered from 

 the view of the poverty or affluence of ions. The poverty extends 

 to the "cathode itself, while the anode possesses the abundance. 

 The cathode dark space behaves as a dielectric, and does not 

 screen electric waves. — Ann. der Physih.^ No. 11, pp. 622-652. 



J. T. 



10. Observations of Sloio Cathode Radiations vnth the help of 

 Phosphorescence. — P. Lenard contributes an exhaustive paper 

 on this subject, and also upon secondary excitation of cathode 

 rays. He gives his reasons for preferring the employment of 

 phosphorescence to the use of the electrometer. The former 

 serves to individualize the phenomena, while the latter gives the 

 integral effect. He introduces the new term Quanten to denote 

 the corpuscle or portion of negative electricity. The path of the 

 Quanten is a cathode ray. Electrically laden atoms he terms 

 bearers of electricity or Trdger. Ultra-violet rays pass into a suit- 

 able tube, where they are submitted to varying differences of 

 electric potential, and the spreading out of the rays is observed 

 on a phosphorescent screen, contained in the same tube. Various 

 phenomena are described and theories of absorption of energy 



