CREATION OF MATTER

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 209, 5 April 1913, Page 10

CREATION OF MATTER

GREAT DISCOVERY BY SIR W. RAMSAY. MODERN ALCHEMY. A discovery which will revolutionise the science of chemical research and set hundreds of chemists working on new lines all over the world, has been made by Sir William Ramsay, Professor Norman Collie, of University College, London, and Mr. IT. Patterson, of the University of Leeds. Although it has still to be developed, it means one of two things—either the transmutation of elements or the evolution of matter from energy, both of Which have hitherto been regarded as impossible.

Sir William Ramsay has made the fol lowing brief explanation:—

"For several years I used half a gramme of radium bromide, lent to me by the Royal Academy of Vienna. With that I thought I had succeeded in transmuting copper into lithium; silicon, titanium, zirconium, and thorium into carbon. More recently I obtained neon from water. Two yearn ago the radium bromide was recalled by the academy. Now radium contains an enormous amount of energy in a concentrated form. In order to see whether some other source of energy could not be found to achieve the same results I investigated the contents of used Xray bulbs (closed glass vessels which had been used to produce X-rays by means of an electrical discharge between two pieces of metal, one of which is known as the catheode). The bulbs were given to me by a medical friend. These bulbs were found to contain traces of the gas helium, the existence of which could not be explained. Professor Collie was simultaneously experimenting with homemade X-rav bulbs, in which the cathode rays were employed as a source of energy. Mr. Patterson pursued a similar course of investigation, quite independently and without knowing of Dr. Collie's work. Dr. Collie was very sceptical at first, but ultimntelv thev both came to the conclusion tbtit if cathode rays are passed through mire hvdrorren gas in a certain manner there is present in the hvdrogen tube considerable quantities of neon, one of the rarer elements of the atmosphere, and by some change of conditions the element helium is substituted for neon." THREE POSSIBILITIES.

"Inasmuch as there is certainly no helium or neon in the bulbs, and as the possibility of their entrance from the outside air, which contains them, was excluded by carefully-devised experiments, the only conclusion which can be drawn is that' these elements are the product of the action going ,on in the bulb. 1. Either the transmutation of the minimum cathode, or of one of the numerous elements present in the glass into neon and helium; "2. Or that hydrogen is thus converted into both of these gases; "3. Or that the electricity itself, in the form of electrons (particles of clect.ricit'') j;ives rise to the birth of these elements. "Tn short, either the transmutation of one element into another or the creation of an element from electricity. This points the way for a change of one form of matter, supposed to be incapable of it. into another." "Does it mean, for instance, that von will be able to turn lead into gold?" Sir William was aslced.

"T do not know," was the reply. "Tt might. Though probably the cost would be too great to make it worth while. The importance of the discovery is that we have deciphered another line in the book of Nature and have opened the door to further discoveries. There mar be commercial consequences; there probably will bp; but those are not the concern of the scientific investigator. We are on the threshold of an entirely new departure in scientific investigation.

"One advantage of the discovery is this: Tt is now within the reach of anyone who can command a battery and a coil to repeat the experiment. Formerlv onlv those who had large stores of radium could attempt anything of the kind.'