ON ENERGY OF RONTGEN AND BECQUEREL RAYS, ETC. 
59 
This difficulty is still further increased when we consider the emission of energy 
from radium, a substance 100,000 times more active than uranium. The emission of 
energy in that case is, at least, 3000 calories ])er year. If future experiments should 
show that radium, as well as uranium, gives out radiation at a constant rate from 
year to year, in order to account for such a I'apid emission of energy, it would be 
necessary to suppose that the radio-active substance in some way acts as a transformer 
of energy. Such a supposition does not seem probable, and leads us into many 
difficulties. 
On the view, however, advanced recently l)y J. J. Thomson, that an atom is not 
simple, but composed of a large number of positively and negatively charged 
electrons, the possiljle energy to be derived from the closer aggregation or regrouping 
of the components of a molecule is very much greater than on the atomic theory, as 
ordinarily understood. The energy recpiired to completely dissociate a molecnle into 
its component electrons would be many thousand times greater than the energy 
required to dissociate a molecule into its atoms. The energy that might be derived 
from a greater concentration or closeness of aggregation of the com])onents of such a 
complex molecule would possibly be sufficient in the case of uranium to supply the 
energy for the emission of radiation for long j)eriods of time. The sudden movements 
of electrons would set their cliarges in oscillation, and give rise to a series of electro¬ 
magnetic jiiilses corresponding to X rays. The remarkable pro})erty of some of the 
radio-active sidrstances in naturally emitting a kind of cathode I'ays shows tliat the 
present views of molecular actions require alteration or extension in order to explain 
such phenomena. The energy that mlglit possibly be derived from regrouping of 
the constituents of the atom would not, however, suffice to keep up a constant 
emission of energy from a strong radio-active substance, like radium, for many years. 
It is of importance tliat experiments to test ffihe constancy of tlie radiations of a 
powerful radio-active sulistance, like radium, should be carried out at definite intervals. 
If the radiation shonld keep constant from year to year, it would lie strong evidence 
that the energy of the radiation was not derived at the expense of the chemical 
energy of the radio-active sulistance. 
