M. Debierne has obtained a third radioactive

substance from pitchblende, which he has called ** Actinium."
§ 88. Radium is an element resembling calcium,
strontium, and barium in chemical properties ; its
atomic weight was determined by Mme.
Chemical Pro- Curie, and found to be about 22 s, accord- perties of . , ^ . ^ ,
Radium. ^^§ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ experiments ; a redeter- mination gave a slightly higher value, which has been confirmed by a further investigation carried out by Sir T. E. Thorpe. 3 Radium gives a
3 See Sir T. E. Thorpe : '* On the Atomic Weight of Radium " (Bakerian Lecture for 1907. Delivered before the Royal Society, June 20, 1907), Proceedings of the Royal Society of London^ vol. Ixxx. pp. 298 et seq. ; reprinted in The Chemical News ^ vol. xcvii. pp. 229 et seq. (May 15, 1908).
120 ALCHEMY [§ 89
characteristic spectrum, and is intensely radioactive.
It should be noted that up to the middle of the
year 1910 the element radium itself had not been
prepared ; in all the experiments carried out radium
salts were employed {i.e., certain compounds of radium
with other elements), generally radium chloride and
radium bromide. More recently Mme. Curie, in
conjunction with M. Debierne, has obtained the free
metal. It is described as a white, shining metal
resembling the other alkaline earth metals. It reacts
very violently with water, chars paper with which
it is allowed to come in contact, and blackens in
the air, probably owing to the formation of a
nitride. It fuses at 700° C, and is more volatile than
barium.4
§ 89. Radium salts give off three distinct sorts of
rays, referred to by the Greek letters «, ^, 7. The
a-rays have been shown to consist of
The Radio- electrically charged (positive) particles,
activity of ., ^ • ^ 1 w .u !
Radium. ^^^" ^ mass approximately equal to that
of four hydrogen atoms ; they are slightly deviated by a magnetic field, and do not possess great penetrative power. The j3-rays are similar to the kathode rays, and consist of (negative) electrons ; they are strongly deviated by a magnetic field, in a direc- tion opposite to that in which the a-particles are deviated, and possess medium penetrative power, passing for the most part through a thin sheet of metal. The 7-rays resemble X-rays; they possess
4 Madame P. Curie and M. A. Debierne : ** Sur le radium metallique," Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des Seances PAcademie des Sciences, vol. cli. (1910), pp. 523-525. (For an English trans- lation of this paper see The Chemical News, vol. cii. p. 175.)
§ 89] MODERN ALCHEMY 121
great penetrative power, and are not deviated by a magnetic field. The difference in the effect of the magnetic field on these rays, and the difference in their penetrative power, led to their detection and allows of their separate examination. Radium salts emit also an emanation, which tends to become occluded in the solid salt, but can be conveniently liberated by dissolving the salt in water, or by heating it. The emanation exhibits the characteristic properties of a gas, it obeys Boyle's Law (i.e., its volume varies inversely with its pressure), and it can be condensed to a liquid at low temperatures ; its density as determined by the diffusion method is about loo. Attempts to prepare chemical compounds of the emanation have failed, and in this respect it resembles the rare gases of the atmosphere — helium, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon — whence it is probable that its molecules are monatom.ic, so that a density of lOO would give its atomic weight as 200. 5 As can be seen from the table on pp. 106, 107, an atomic weight of about 220 corresponds to a position in the column containing the rare gases in the periodic system. That the emanation actually has an atomic weight of these dimensions has been confirmed by further experiments recently carried out by Sir William Ramsay and Dr. R. W. Gray.6 These chemists have determined the density of the emanation by actually weighing minute quantities of known volume of the substance, sealed up in small capillary tubes, a specially sensitive
5 This follows from Avogadro's Hypothesis, see § 76.
^ Sir William Ramsay and Dr. R. W. Gray : " La densite de I'emanation du radium," Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des Seances de VAcadimie des Sciences^ vol. cvi. (1910), pp. 126 et seq.
122 ALCHEMY [§90
balance being employed. Values for the density- varying from 1 08 to 113J, corresponding to values for the atomic weight varying from 216 to 227, were thereby obtained. Sir William Ramsay, therefore, considers that there can no longer be any doubt that the emanation is one of the elements of the group of chemically inert gases. He proposes to call it Niton, and, for reasons which we shall note later, considers that in all probability it has an atomic weight of 22 2 J.
§ 90. Radium salts possess another very remarkable
property, namely, that of continuously emitting light
and heat. It seemed, at first, that here
The Disinte- ^^g ^ startling^ contradiction to the law of gration of the . . r i 1 i 1
Radium Atom, the conservation of energy, but the whole
mystery becomes comparatively clear in terms of the corpuscular or the electronic theory of matter. The radium-atom is a system of a large num- ber (see § 8 1 ) of corpuscles or electrons, and contains in virtue of their motion an enormous amount of energy. But it is known from Chemistry that atomic systems (i.e., molecules) which contain very much energy are unstable and liable to explode. The same law holds good on the more interior plane — the radium-atom is liable to, and actually does, explode. And the result ? Energy is set free, and manifests itself partly as heat and light. Some free electrons are shot off (the /3-rays), which, striking the undecomposed particles of salt, give rise to pulses in the ether (the 7-rays),7 just as the kathode particles give rise to X-rays when they
7 This view regarding the y-rays is not, however, universally accepted, some scientists regarding them as consisting of a stream of particles moving with very high velocities.
§92] MODERN ALCHEMY 123
strike the walls of the vacuum tube or a platinum disc placed in their path. The jS and y-rays do not, how- ever, result immediately from the exploding radium- atoms, the initial products being the emanation and one a-particle from each radium-atom destroyed.
§ 91. Radium salts have the property of causing
surrounding objects to become temporally radioactive.
This '* induced radioactivity," as it may
emanation, which is itself radioactive (it emits a-rays only), and is decomposed into minute traces of solid radioactive deposits. By examining the rate of decay of the activity of the deposit, it has been found that it is undergoing a series of sub-atomic changes, the products being termed Radium A, B, C, &c. It has been proved that all the /3 and y-rays emitted by radium salts are really due to certain of these secondary products. Radium F is thought to be identical with Polonium (§ 87). Another product is also obtained by these decompositions, with which we shall deal later (§ 94).
§ 92. Uranium and thorium differ in one important
respect from radium, inasmuch as the first product of
the decomposition of the uranium and
Properties of thorium atoms is in both cases solid.
Thorium. ^^^ William Crookes ^ was able to sepa- rate from uranium salts by chemical means a small quantity of an intensely radioactive substance, which he called Uranium X, the residual uranium having lost most of its activity ; and M.
2 Sir William Crookes, F.R.S. : " Radio-activity of Uranium," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London^ vol. Ixvi. (1900), pp. 409 et seq.
124 ALCHEMY [§ 93
Becquerel, on repeating the experiment, found that the activity of the residual uranium was slowly re- gained, whilst that of the uranium X decayed. This is most simply explained by the theory that uranium first changes into uranium X. It has been suggested that radium may be the final product of the breaking up of the uranium-atom ; at any rate, it is quite certain that radium must be evolved in some way, as other- wise there would be none in existence — it would all have decomposed. This suggestion has been experi- mentally confirmed, the growth of radium in large quantities of a solution of purified uranyl nitrate having been observed. Uranium gives no emanation. Thorium probably gives at least three solid products — Meso-thorium, Radio-thorium, and Thorium X, the last of which yields an emanation resembling that obtained from radium, but not identical with it.
§ 93. We must now more fully consider the radium emanation — a substance with more astounding pro- perties than even the radium compounds EmanatioiT themselves. By distilling off the emana- tion from some radium bromide, and measuring the quantities of heat given off by the emanation and the radium salt respectively. Professors Rutherford and Barnes 9 proved that nearly three- fourths of the total amount of heat given out by a radium salt comes from the minute quantity of emana- tion that it contains. The amount of energy liberated as heat during the decay of the emanation is enor- mous; one cubic centimetre liberates about four
9 E. Rutherford, F.R.S., and H. T. Barnes, D.Sc. : " Heating Effect of the Radium Emanation," Philosophical Magazine [6], vol. vii. (1904), pp. 202 et seq.
§ M] MODERN ALCHEMY 125
million times as much heat as is obtained by the combustion of an equal volume of hydrogen. Un- doubtedly this must indicate some profound change, and one may well ask, What is the ultimate product of the decomposition of the emanation ?
§ 94. It had been observed already that the radio- active minerals on heating give off Helium — a The Produc- ^^^^^^^ element, characterised by a tion of particular yellow line in its spectrum — Helium from and it seemed not unlikely that helium a lum. inighi- be ^\^q ultimate decomposition product of the emanation. A research to settle this point was undertaken by Sir William Ram- say and Mr. Soddy,^^ and a preliminary experi- ment having confirmed the above speculation, they carried out further very careful experiments. **The maximum amount of the emanation obtained from 50 milligrams of radium bromide was conveyed by means of oxygen into a U-tube cooled in liquid air, and the latter was then extracted by the pump." The spectrum was observed ; it ** was apparently a new one, probably that of the emanation itself. . . . After standing from July 17 to 21 the helium spectrum appeared, and the characteristic lines were observed." Sir William Ramsay performed a further experi- ment with a similar result, in which the radium salt had been first of all heated in a vacuum for some time, proving that the helium obtained could not have been occluded in it ; though the fact that the helium spectrum did not immediately appear, in itself
" Sir William Ramsay and Frederick Soddy: "Experiments in Radioactivity and the Production of Helium from Radium," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London^ vol. Ixxii. (1903), pp. 204 et seq.
126 ALCHEMY [§ 94
proves this point. Sir William Ramsay's results were confirmed by further careful experiments by Sir James Dewar and other chemists. It was suggested, therefore, that the a-particle consists of an electrically charged helium-atom, and not only is this view in agreement with the value of the mass of this particle as determined experimentally, but it has been com- pletely demonstrated by Professor Rutherford and Mr. Royds. These chemists performed an experiment in which the emanation from about one-seventh of a gramme of radium was enclosed in a thin-walled tube, through the walls of which the a-particles could pass, but which were impervious to gases. This tube was surrounded by an outer jacket, which was evacuated. After a time the presence of helium in the space between the inner tube and the outer jacket was observed spectroscopically." Now, the emanation- atom results from the radium-atom by the expulsion of one a-particle ; and since this latter consists of an electrically charged helium-atom, it follows that the emanation must have an atomic weight of 226J-4, i.e., 22 2 J. This value is in agreement with Sir William Ramsay's determination of the density of the emana- tion. We may represent the degradation of the radium-atom, therefore, by the following scheme : —
^^ a-particle (Helium-atom) Radium-atom"''^^'^ 4
226^ ^^ ^^^a-particle (Helium-atom)
^^ Emanation (Niton-atom)-'^^ 4
222^
^-t^
Radium-A, &c.
" E. Rutherford, F.R.S., and T. Royds, M.Sc. : "The Nature of the a-Particle from Radio-active Substances," Philosophica Magazine [6], vol. xvii. (1909), pp. 281 et seq.
§ 95] MODERN ALCHEMY 127
§ 95. Here, then, for the first time in the history of Chemistry, we have the undoubted formation of one
chemical element from another, for, this Change ^^^.ving out of the question the nature
of the emanation, there can be no doubt that radium is a chemical element. This is a point which must be insisted upon, for it has been sug- gested that radium may be a compound of helium with some unknown element ; or, perhaps, a com- pound of helium with lead, since it has been thought that lead may be one of the end products of the decomposition of radium. The following considera- tions, however, show this view to be altogether untenable : (i.) All attempts to prepare compounds of helium with other elements have failed, (ii.) Radium possesses all the properties of a chemical element ; it has a characteristic spectrum, and falls in that column in the Periodic Table with those elements which it resembles as to its chemical properties. (iii.) The quantity of heat liberated on the decomposition of the emanation is, as we have already indicated, out of all proportion to that obtained even in the most violent chemical reactions ; and (iv.) one very important fact has been observed by some investigators, though it has been denied by others, namely, that the rate of decay of the emanation is unaffected by even extreme changes of temperature, whereas chemical actions are always affected in rate by changes of temperature. It will also be advisable, perhaps, to indicate some of the differences between helium and the emanation. The latter is a heavy gas, condensable to a liquid by liquid air (recently it has been solidified ^^) ; whereas helium " By Ramsay. See Froc. Ckem, Soc, vol. xxv. (1909), pp. 82 and 83.
128 ALCHEMY [§ 96
is the lightest of all known gases with the exception of hydrogen and has been liquefied only by the most persistent effort.'^ The emanation, moreover, is radio- active, giving off a-particles, whereas helium does not possess this property.
§ 96. It has been pointed out, however, that (in a sense) this change (viz., of emanation into helium) is
Is this ^^^ quite what has been meant by the
Change a expression " transmutation of the ele-
true Trans- ments " ; for the reason that it is a mutation? . , , cc 4. c
spontaneous change ; no effort of ours
can bring it about or cause it to cease.''* But the fact of the change does go to prove that the chemical elements are not the discrete units of matter that they were supposed to be. And since it appears that all matter is radioactive, although (save in these exceptional cases) in a very slight degree, ^5 we here have evidence of a process of evolution at work among the chemical elements. The chemical elements are not permanent ; they are all undergoing change ; and the common elements merely mark those points where the rate of the evolutionary process is at its slowest. (See also §§78 and 83.) Thus, the essen- tial truth in the old alchemistic doctrine of the growth of metals is vindicated, for the metals do grow in the womb of Nature, although the process may be far
^3 By Professor Onnes. See Chemical News, vol. xcviii. p. 37 (July 24, 1908).
H See Professor H. C. Jones : The Electrical Nature of Matter and Radioactivity (1906), pp. 125-126.
'5 It has been definitely proved, for example, that the common element potassium is radioactive, though very feebly so (it emits /3-rays). It is also interesting to note that many common substances emit corpuscles at high temperatures.
§96] MODERN ALCHEMY 129
slower than appears to have been imagined by certain of the alchemists, '6 and although gold may not be the end product. As writes Professor Sir W. Tilden : ** . . . It appears that modern ideas as to the genesis of the elements, and hence of all matter, stand in strong contrast with those which chiefly prevailed among experimental philosophers from the time of Newton, and seem to reflect in an altered form the speculative views of the ancients." " . . . It seems probable," he adds, " that the chemical elements, and hence all material substances of which the earth, the sea, the air, and the host of heavenly bodies are all composed, resulted from a change, corresponding to condensation, in something of which we have no direct and intimate knowledge. Some have imagined this primal essence of all things to be identical with the ether of space. As yet we know nothing with certainty, but it is thought that by means of the spec- troscope some stages of the operation may be seen in progress in the nebulae and stars. . . ." ^^ We have
**' Says Peter Bonus, however, "... we know that the genera- tion of metals occupies thousands of years ... in Nature's workshop ..." (see The New Pearl of Great Price^ Mr. A. E. Waite's translation, p. 55), and certain others of the alchemists expressed a similar view.
'^ Sir William A. Tilden : The Elements : Speculations as to their Nature and Origin (1910), pp. 108, 109, 133 and 134. With regard to Sir William Tilden's remarks, it is very interesting to note that Swedenborg (who was born when Newton was between forty and fifty years old) not only differed from that great philosopher on those very points on which modern scientific philosophy is at variance with Newton, but, as is now recognised by scientific men, anticipated many modern discoveries and scientific theories. It would be a most interesting task to set forth the agreement existing between Swedenborg's theories and the latest products of scientific
10
130 ALCHEMY [§ 97
next to consider whether there is any experimental evidence showing it to be possible (using the phrase- ology of the alchemists) for man to assist in Nature's work.
§ 97. As we have already indicated above (§ 93),
the radium emanation contains a vast store of poten-
, _ tial energy, and it was with the idea of
duction of utilising this energy for bringing about
Neon from chemical changes that Sir William
mana ion. R^jYigay ^^ undertook a research on the chemical action of this substance — a research with the most surprising and the most important results, for the energy contained within the radium emanation appeared to behave like a veritable Philosopher's Stone. The first experiments were carried out on distilled water. It had already been observed that the emanation decomposes water into its gaseous elements, oxygen and hydrogen, and that the latter is always produced in excess. These results were confirmed and the presence of hydrogen peroxide was detected, explaining the formation of an excess of hydrogen ; it was also shown that the emanation brings about the reverse change to some extent, causing oxygen and hydrogen to unite with the production of water, until a position of equilibrium is
thought concerning the nature of the physical universe. Such, however, would lie without the confines of the present work.
'^ Sir William Ramsay : " The Chemical Action of the Radium Emanation. Pt. I., Action on Distilled Water," Journal of the Chemical Society^ vol. xci. (1907), pp. 931 et seq. Alexander T. Cameron and Sir William Ramsay, ibid. " Pt. IL, On Solutions containing Copper, and Lead, and on Water," ibid. pp. 1593 et seq. "Pt. III., On Water and Certain Gases," ibid. vol. xciii. (1908), pp. 966 et seq. " Pt. IV., On Water," ibid. pp. 992 et seq.
§ 97] MODERN ALCHEMY 131
attained. On examining spectroscopically the gas obtained by the action of the emanation on water, after the removal of the ordinary gases, a most sur- prising resuh was observed — the gas showed a brilliant spectrum of neon, accompanied with some faint helium lines. A more careful experiment was carried out later by Sir William Ramsay and Mr. Cameron, in which a silica bulb was employed instead of glass. The spectrum of the residual gas after removing ordinary gases was successfully photographed, and a large number of the neon lines identified ; helium was also present. The presence of neon could not be explained, in Ramsay's opinion, by leakage of air into the apparatus, as the percentage of neon in the air is not sufficiently high, whereas this suggestion might be put forward in the case of argon. Moreover, the neon could not have come from the aluminium of the elec- trodes (in which it might be thought to have been occluded), as the sparking tube had been used and tested before the experiment was carried out. The authors conclude : " We must regard the transforma- tion of emanation into neon, in presence of water, as indisputably proved, and, if a transmutation be defined as a transformation brought about at will, by change of conditions, then this is the first case of transmuta- tion of which conclusive evidence is put forward!' ^9 However, Professor Rutherford and Mr. Royds have been unable to confirm this result. They describe ^o attempts to obtain neon by the action of emanation
^"^ Journal of the Chemical Society^ vol. xciii. (1908), p. 997.
=^° E. Rutherford, F.R.S., and T. Royds, M.Sc. : "The Action of Radium Emanation on Water," Philosophical Magazine [6], vol. xvi. (1908), pp. Z\2 et seq.
132 ALCHEMY [§ 98
on water. Out of five experiments no neon was obtained, save in one case in which a small air leak was discovered ; and, since the authors find that very minute quantities of this gas are sufficient to give a clearly visible spectrum, they conclude that Ramsay's positive results are due, after all, to leakage of air into the apparatus. But if this explanation be accepted it is difficult to understand why the presence of neon should be observed in the experiments with water, and argon in the experiments with copper solutions (see below, § 98). We are inclined, therefore, to accept Sir William Ramsay's results, but it is quite evident that further experiments are necessary to settle the question indisputably.
§ 98. The fact that an excess of hydrogen was pro- duced when water was decomposed by the emanation suggested to Sir William Ramsay and Ramsay's jyjj. Cameron that if a solution of a Experiments n- 1 1 1 • 1 r
on Copper, nietallic salt was employed m place ot
pure water, the free metal might be obtained. These " modern alchemists," therefore, proceeded to investigate the action of radium emana- tion on solutions of copper and lead salts, and again apparently effected transmutations. They found on removing the copper from a solution of a copper-salt which had been subjected to the action of the emana- tion, and spectroscopically examining the residue, that a considerable quantity of sodium was present, together with traces of lithium ; and the gas evolved in the case of a solution of copper nitrate contained, along with much nitric oxide and a little nitrogen, argon (which was detected spectroscopically), but no helium. It certainly seemed like a dual transformation of
§98] MODERN ALCHEMY 133
copper into lithium and sodium, and emanation into argon. They also observed that apparently carbon- dioxide is continually evolved from an acid solution of thorium nitrate (see below, § loo). It is worth while noticing that helium, neon and argon occur in the same column in the Periodic Table with emanation ; lithium and sodium with copper, and carbon with thorium ; in each case the elements produced being of lighter atomic weight than those decomposed.^i The authors make the following suggestions: "(i) That helium and the a-particle are not identical ; (2) that helium results from the ' degradation ' of the large molecule of emanation by its bombardment with a-partlcles ; (3) that this * degradation,' when the emanation is alone or mixed with oxygen and hydrogen, results in the lowest member of the inactive series, namely, helium ; (4) that if particles of greater mass than hydrogen or oxygen are associated with the emanation, namely, liquid water, then the * degrada- tion' of the emanation is less complete, and neon is produced ; (5) that when molecules of still greater weight and complexity are present, as is the case when the emanation is dissolved in a solution of copper sulphate, the product of ' degradation ' of the emanation is argon. We are inclined to believe too [they say] that (6) the copper also is involved in this process of degradation, and is reduced to the lowest term of its series, namely, lithium ; and at the same time, inasmuch as the weight of the residue of alkali, produced when copper nitrate is present, is double that obtained from the blank experiment, or from water alone, the supposition is not excluded that the " See pp. 106, 107.
134 ALCHEMY [§ 100
chief product of the * degradation * of copper is sodium." "
§ 99. More recently Madame Curie and Made- moiselle Gleditsch^^ have repeated Cameron and Further Ramsay's experiments on copper salts, Experiments using, however, platinum apparatus, on Radium They failed to detect lithium after the opper. ^^^[q^ of ^Y^Q emanation, and think that Cameron and Ramsay's results may be due to the glass vessels employed. Dr. Perman """^ recently investigated the direct action of the emanation on copper and gold, and failed to detect any trace of lithium. The transmutation of copper into lithium, therefore, must be regarded as unproved, but further research is necessary before any conclusive statements can be made on the subject.
§ 100. In his presidential address to the Chemical Bamsay'sEx- Society, March 25, 1909, after having periments on brought forward some exceedingly in- Thorium and teresting arguments for the possibility of transmutation, Sir William Ramsay de- scribed some experiments which he had carried out on
" Journal of the Chemical Society^ vol. xci. (1907), pp. 1605-1606. More recent experiments, however, have proved that the a-particle does consist of an electrically charged helium-atom, and this view is now accepted by Sir William Ramsay, so that the above suggestions must be modified in accordance therewith. (See §§89 and 94.)
^3 Madame Curie and Mademoiselle Gleditsch: "Action de I'emanation du radium sur les solutions des sels de cuivre," Comptes Rend^is hebdomadaires des Siances de PAcademie des Sciences, vol. cxlvii. (1908), pp. 345 ef seq. (For an English translation of this paper, see The Chemical News, vol. xcviii. pp. 157 and 158.)
""^ Edgar Philip Perman : " The Direct Action of Radium on Copper and Gold," Proceedings of the Chemical Society, vol. xxiv. (1908), p. 214.
§ 100] MODERN ALCHEMY 135
thorium and allied elements.^^ It was found, as we have already stated (§ 98), that, apparently, carbon- dioxide was continually evolved from an acid solution of thorium nitrate, precautions being taken that the gas was not produced from the grease on the stop- cock employed, and it also appeared that carbon- dioxide was produced by the action of radium emanation on thorium nitrate. The action of radium emanation on compounds (not containing carbon) of other members of the carbon group, namely, silicon, zirconium and lead, was then inves- tigated ; in the cases of zirconium nitrate and hydro- fluosilicic acid, carbon-dioxide was obtained ; but in the case of lead chlorate the amount of carbon dioxide was quite insignificant. Curiously enough, the per- chlorate of bismuth, a metal which belongs to the nitrogen group of elements, also yielded carbon- dioxide when acted on by emanation. Sir William Ramsay concludes his discussion of these experiments as follows : *' Such are the facts. No one is better aware than I how insufficient the proof is. Many other experiments must be made before it can con- fidently be asserted that certain elements, when exposed to 'concentrated energy,' undergo degrada- tion into carbon." Some such confirmatory experi- ments have already been carried out by Sir William Ramsay and Mr. Francis L. Usher, who also describe an experiment with a compound of titanium. Their results confirm Sir William Ramsay's former experiments. Carbon-dioxide was obtained in appre- ciable quantities by the action of emanation on com-
'^ Sir William Ramsay: "Elements and 'ElQcirons" Journal of the Chemical Society^ vol. xcv. (1909), pp. 624 ^^ seq.
\
136 ALCHEMY [§ 102
pounds of silicon, titanium, zirconium and thorium. In the case of lead, the amount of carbon dioxide obtained was inappreciable.^^
§ 101. It does not seem unlikely that if it is pos- sible to " degrade " elements, it may be possible to build them up. It has been suggested The Pos- ^Y^^^ j|. n^igrht be possible to obtain, in sibilityof , . u r -i • u
Making Gold. ^"^^ ^^Jy gold from silver, smce these
two elements occur in the same column in the Periodic Table ; but the suggestion still awaits experimental confirmation. The question arises. What would be the result if gold could be cheaply produced ? That gold is a metal admirably adapted for many purposes, for which its scarcity prevents its use, must be admitted. But the financial chaos which would follow if it were to be cheaply obtained sur- passes the ordinary imagination. It is a theme that ought to appeal to a novelist of exceptional imagina- tive power. However, we need not fear these results, for not only is radium extremely rare, far dearer than gold, and on account of its instability will never be obtained in large quantities, but, judging from the above-described experiments, if, indeed, the radium emanation is the true Philosopher's Stone, the quan- tity of gold that may be hoped for by its aid is extremely small.
§ 102. A very suggestive argument for the trans- mutation of the metals was put forward by Professor Henry M. Howe, LL.D., in a paper entitled " Allo- tropy or Transmutation?" read before the British Association (Section B), Sheffield Meeting, 1910.
^^ For a brief account in English of these later experiments see T/ie Chemical News^ vol. c. p. 209 (October 29, 1909).
§ 102] MODERN ALCHEMY 137
Certain substances are known which, although differ- ing in their physical properties very markedly, behave chemically as if they were one and the
The Big- same element, fifivinsf rise to the same nificance of . - ,011
*' AUotropy." series of compounds, buch substances,
of which we may mention diamond, graphite and charcoal (^.^., lampblack) — all of which are known chemically as ** carbon" — or, to take another example, yellow phosphorus (a yellow, waxy, highly inflammable solid) and red phosphorus (a difficultly-inflammable, dark red substance, probably possessing a minutely crystalline structure), are, more- over, convertible one into the other.^^ It has been customary to refer to such substances as different forms or allotropic modifications of the same element, and not to regard them as being different elements. As Professor Howe says, "If after defining ' ele- ments' as substances hitherto indivisible, and dif- ferent elements as those which differ in at least some one property, and after asserting that the elements cannot be transmuted into each other, we are con- fronted with the change from diamond into lamp- black, and with the facts, first, that each is clearly
^7 Diamond is transformed into graphite when heated by a powerful electric current between carbon poles, and both diamond and graphite can be indirectly converted into charcoal. The arti- ficial production of the diamond, however, is a more difficult process; but the late Professor Moissan succeeded in effecting it, so far as very small diamonds are concerned, by dissolving charcoal in molten iron or silver and allowing it to crystallise from the solution under high pressure. Graphite was also obtained. Red phosphorus is produced from yellow phosphorus by heating the latter in absence of air. The temperature 240-250° C. is the most suitable; at higher temperatures the reverse change sets in, red phosphorus being converted into yellow phosphorus.
138 ALCHEMY [§ 102
indivisible hitherto and hence an element, and, second, that they differ in every property, we try to escape in a circle by saying that they are not different elements because they do change into each other. In short, we limit the name 'element' to indivisible substances which cannot be transmuted into each other, and we define those which do transmute as ipso facto one element, and then we say that the elements cannot be transmuted. Is not this very like saying that, if you call a calf's tail a leg, then a calf has five legs ? And if it is just to reply that calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg, is it not equally just to reply that calling two transmutable elements one element does not make them so ?
** Is it philosophical to point to the fact that two such transmutable elements yield but a single line of derivatives as proof that they are one element.** Is not this rather proof of the readiness, indeed irresistibleness, of their transmutation ? Does not this simply mean that the derivativeless element, whenever it enters into combination, inevitably transmutes into its mate which has derivatives ? " ^8
According to the atomic theory the differences between what are termed " allotropic modifications *' are generally ascribed to differences in the number and arrangement of the atoms constituting the mole- cules of such "modifications," and not to any dif- ferences in the atoms themselves. But we cannot argue that two such "allotropic modifications" or elements which are transmutable into one another
*^ Professor Henry M. Howe, LL.D. : "Allotropy or Trans- mutation." (See The Chemical News^ vol. cii. pp. 153 and 154, September 23, 19 10.)
§ 102] MODERN ALCHEMY 139
are one and the same element, because they possess the same atomic weight, and different elements are distinguished by different atomic weights ; for the reason that, in the determination of atomic weights, derivatives of such bodies are employed ; hence, the value obtained is the atomic weight of the element which forms derivatives, from which that of its derivativeless mate may differ considerably for all we know to the contrary, if we do, indeed, regard the atomic weights of the elements as having any meaning beyond expressing the inertia-ratios in which they combine one with another.
If we wish to distinguish between two such "allo- tropic modifications " apart from any theoretical views concerning the nature and constitution of matter, we can say that such *' modifications " are different because equal weights of them contain, or are equiva- lent to, different quantities of energy,"*^ since the change of one " form " to another takes place only with the evolution or absorption (as the case may be) of heat. 30 But, according to modern views regard- ing the nature of matter, this is the sole fundamental
^' For a defence of the view that chemical substances may be regarded as energy-complexes, and that this view is equally as valid as the older notion of a chemical substance as an inertia-complex, i.e.^ as something made up entirely of different units or atoms each characterised by the possession of a definite and constant weight at a fixed point on the earth's surface, see an article by the present writer, entitled "The Claims of Thermochemistry," Knowledge and Scientific News, vol. vii. (New Series), pp. 227 et seq. (July, 19 10).
3° In some cases the heat change accompanying the transforma- tion of an element into an " allotropic modication " can be measured directly. More frequently, however, it is calculated as the difference between the quantities of heat obtained when the two "forms" are converted into one and the same compound.
140 ALCHEMY [§ 103
difference between two different elements — such are different because equal weights of them contain or are equivalent to different quantities of energy. The so-called "allotropic modifications of an element,'* therefore, are just as much different elements as any other different elements, and the change from one ** modification " to another is a true transmuta- tion of the elements ; the only distinction being that what are called ''allotropic modifications of the same element " differ only slightly in respect of the energy they contain, and hence are comparatively easy to convert one into the other, whereas different elements (so called) differ very greatly from one another in this respect, whence it is to be concluded that the trans- mutation of one such element into another will only be attained by the utilisation of energy in a very highly concentrated form, such as is evolved simul- taneously with the spontaneous decomposition of the radium emanation. That this highly concentrated form of energy does result in effecting the same appears to be indicated by Sir William Ramsay's experiments.
§ 103. We have shown that modern science indi- cates the essential truth of alchemistic doctrine, and
our task is ended. We can conclude Conclusion. . , i i ^•
m no better way than by quotmg
these words of the greatest "modern alchemist": "If these hypotheses [concerning the possibility of causing the atoms of ordinary elements to absorb energy] are just," said Sir William Ramsay in 1904, "then the transmutations of the ele- ments no longer appears an idle dream. The philosopher's stone will have been discovered, and
§ 103] MODERN ALCHEMY 141
it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that it may lead to that other goal of the philosophers of the dark ages — the elixir vitcs. For the action of living cells is also dependent on the nature and direction of the energy which they contain ; and who can say that it will be impossible to control their action, when the means of imparting and controlling energy shall have been investigated ? " 3i This was said before his remarkable experiments which appear to indicate that he has discovered the Philosopher's Stone ; and it is worth noticing how many of the alchemists' obscure descriptions of their Magistery well apply to that marvellous something which we call Energy, the true ** First Matter" of the Universe. And of the other problem, the Elixir Vitce, Who knows?
3' Sir William Ramsay : " Radium and its Products," Harper's Magazine (December, 1904), vol. xlix. (European Edition), p. 57.
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