In this work, I have endeavoured to give a complete and connected account, from a physical standpoint, of the properties possessed by the naturally radio-active bodies. Although the subject is comparatively a new one, our knowledge of the properties of the radio-active substances has advanced with great rapidity, and there is now a very large amount of information on the subject scattered throughout the various scientific journals.
The phenomena exhibited by the radio-active bodies are extremely complicated, and some form of theory is essential in order to connect in an intelligible manner the mass of experimental facts that have now been accumulated. I have found the theory that the atoms of the radio-active bodies are undergoing spontaneous disintegration extremely serviceable, not only in correlating the known phenomena, but also in suggesting new lines of research.
The interpretation of the results has, to a large extent, been based on the disintegration theory, and the logical deductions to be drawn from the application of the theory to radio-active phenomena have also been considered.
The rapid advance of our knowledge of radio-activity has been dependent on the information already gained by research into the electric properties of gases. The action possessed by the radiations from radio-active bodies of producing charged carriers or ions in the gas, has formed the basis of an accurate quantitative method of examination of the properties of the radiations and of
