MARVELS OF SCIENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13193, 2 June 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

MARVELS OF SCIENCE.

11 • HOW THE' WONDERS OF RADIUM WERE REVEALED. Eitot'Ks.soit Ci:iuk, whose tragic death was ■ recently recorded, was associated with his talented wife in one of the most sensational discoveries of modern science—the existence 1 of the strange substance known as radium. The principle of radio-activity was discovered by M. Bccqueiel in 1896, while he was studying the properties of uranium, and it ' was while pursuing her investigations into this metal, when taking up the subject of radio-activity for her doctorate degree, that ' Mine. Curie, in conjunction with her husband, became aware of the existence of • radium. It lias been said that without M. Curie's scientific learning, and vivid imagination, and without Mme. Curie's determination and patience, raditfm would never have been discovered. That, perhaps, de- i 1 scribes the share of each in the discovery, and both were the recipients of many honours from the scientific world. : The discovery of he new metal was commtinted by M. Curie to the Academy of Sciences, Paris, 111 .March, 1903, and on June 19 of the same year he gave a. demonstration with the- new rnetai at the Royal Institution in London. The demonstration was a brilliant success, but as the result of the action of the metal M. Curie's hands were so badly peeled and sore that for several days alter his return to Paris he. was unable to dress himself. Some of the experiments lie made on that occasion were singularly fascinating, although necessarily, of course, of a, highly technical nature, in order, for instance, to show that radium throws off , heat continually lie took two glass vessels, one containing a. thermometer and a tube of radium, the other containing a thermometer and no radium. Both vessels were closed with cotton, and soon it was Keen that the thermometer in the vessel containing the radium registered constantly 5.4 .degrees Fahrenheit higher than the thermometer which was not subject to the influence of the metal. KXt'Kl'.lilKNTS IX LONDON". But. the. most striking of his London experiments was one devised to prove tho existence of radium emanations, a kind of gaseous product which this marvellous substance seems to give off as continuously as it throws off light and heat. Sir William Ramsay has since followed up the investigation into radium emanations (which are quite distinct from the rays), with some remarkable results, especially in throwing light upon the phenomenon of the aurora boreal is. It was while in London that .M. Curio learnt, in conveisation with Sir William Cro'okos—and here it, should be said that the " Crookes tubes' were a great aid in the discovery of radium—that the distinguished English scientist had invented a curious little instrument called the spinthariscope, wieli makes radium emanations visible, and shows, in a way that had never been done before, the extraordinary atomic disintegration that is constantly taking place in this range metal. lien M. Curie first saw this manifestation in the spinthariscope lie described it as one, of the most beautiful and impressive visions lie had. ever witnessed. Experiments at the Pasteur Institute have, shown that radium may Ik- used in relieving human suffering, and M. Curie himself ha.r> shown, that it offers a sure means of distinguishing genuine from imitation, diamonds. Bui the most startling exjK.Tinieiit, probably. ever made with radium was one by M. Daily-/, at the Pasteur Institute, when be showed that radium arrested the development of certain-larvae. A still more amazing result was the discovery that the life of the larvie could be prolonged to three times , the ordinary term of their Iffe. This ex- , pcriment was described as being very much i the same as if "a young man of twenty-one i should keep the appearance of twenty-one , for'2so years!'' Another marvellous effect i was produced by M. Bolm at the biological laboratories of the Sorbonne. for he showed , that radium may so far modify various lower : forms of lite as to produce "monsters, ' or, at any rate, abnormal deviations from an j original type of species. In this way did ' M. Boh li form tadpole monsters from" tad- J poles exposed four days after birth to the action of radium rays. Radium is the rarest and certainly the 1 most costly of metals. Some time ago M. 1 Curie estimated that- in France there was J about one-third of an ounce of the metal, J in Germany a little more, and in the rest of ' the world about two-thirds of an ounce. As j' to its cost, on M. Curies own figures, a, kilogramme, equal to two and one-fifth of a pound avoirdupois, could not be pure-bus- ' ed. if it were obtainable, for less than <- £400.000. ' ( The joint ' discoverer of this marvel of f science, who was only fortv-seveil years of ' age at the time of his death, was tall, thin 1 and slightly bent, and was above all a shy 1 and retiring student wrapped up in lii's observations and pursuits. Mme. Curie. < who shared his studies and his honours, is a - I oils l „>'• and conies of a learned family. '• *V the arsaw College she earned great •' distinction, and after spending some time iri « Germany as a teacher came to Paris as a 1 lecturer ia a girls' school at Versailles. <