AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16034, 28 September 1915, Page 5

AUCKLAND INSTITUTE.

"MODERN VIEWS OF MATTER."

A lecture entitled "Modern Views of Matter" was delivered at St. Andrew's Hall last night, under the. auspices of the Auckland Institute, by Professor G. Owen. Professor H. W. Segar, who introduced the lecturer, apologised for the absence of the president of the institute, the Hon. E. Mitchelson, who wished him to express his regret at being absent on the occasion of Professor Owen's first appearance as a lecturer before the institute.

Professor Owen said that since the earliest days of civilization science had been seeking to know what matter consisted of. With the aid of the philosopher's stone the ancients had endeavoured to solve the riddle. It was not, however, until Dalton announced his particle theory that some idea of the composition of matter was arrived at. The fact that water would absorb sugar and other matters in solution without increasing appreciably in bulk, was proof that water was not continuous in formation; it consisted of particles, with minute spaces between them. Water was a compound of atoms and molecules, two or more atoms going to form a molecule. Some interesting experiments were shown in which electric rays were projected through ratified gases in tubes, the peculiarities of the cathode ravs being demonstrated and explained. Professor Sir J. J. Thompson discovered that matter existed in radiant form, as well as in gaseous and liquid forms. And it was in following up and developing these theories that Professor Sir E. Rutherford, of New Zealand, had accomplished more than any other seeker after knowledge in this sphere of research. It was he who proved that the alpha rays of radium possessed radio activity, each atom shooting out from itself, atoms of a different nature. An experiment in which numbers of corks with magnetised needles in them were placed in a bowl of water and, when a magnet was held near them, arranged themselves in geometrical groups, was shown as proof of the theory of the radio-activity of the atom. The problems yet to be solved by Professor Rutherford and other scientists were mentioned in conclusion.