to it that I pass by the hypotheses that have been set forth with respect to the matter.
It is not impossible that the discovery of these two new elements, argon and helium, may give occasion for a remodeling or a transformation of the periodical system—a remodeling by means of which some uncertainties and even contradictions now existing will undoubtedly be removed. Thus, for example, the atomic weight of tellurium, as recently determined by B. Brauner and Ludwig Standenmaler, does not enter at all into the periodical system; on the other hand, the existence in this substance of a foreign element, such as the austriacum suggested by B. Brauner, does not seem to be established. As to the much agitated question whether and to what extent the atomic weight of nickel differs from that of cobalt, I believe I have given a satisfactory answer, and have refuted the hypothesis of Gerhard Krüss and F. W. Schmid of the existence in one of the substances of a third element which has been called gnomium.
The rapid glance which we have cast over the discovery of new elements during the last twenty-five years shows that researches have been pursued in this direction with great activity, and with the return of considerable results. Yet the speculations for which these researches have given occasion with respect to the possibility of an ultimate decomposition of apparently simple bodies, and reciprocally respecting the progressive development of the primitive substance and the formation of many of the present elements, may be considered very uncertain. I mention among these Mr. Lockyer's hypothesis of the dissociation of the elements within the solar atmosphere. Hypotheses of this kind must remain hypotheses so long as we do not succeed in splitting a substance unequivocally regarded as simple, or in transforming some element into another; yet they need not be considered wholly inadmissible. Something unexpected may happen at any time that will open to science new roads of investigation.—Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from the Revue Scientiflque.
