in their separation was the activity of the products obtained. In this respect the discovery of these bodies is quite analogous to the discovery of rare elements by the methods of spectrum analysis. The method employed in the separation consisted in examining the relative activity of the products after chemical treatment. In this way it was seen whether the radio-activity was confined to one or another of the products, or divided between both, and in what ratio such division occurred.
The activity of the specimens thus served as a basis of rough qualitative and quantitative analysis, analogous in some respects to the indication of the spectroscope. To obtain comparative data it was necessary to test all the products in the dry state. The chief difficulty lay in the fact that pitchblende is a very complex mineral, and contains in varying quantities nearly all the known metals.
12. Radium. The analysis of pitchblende by chemical
methods, using the procedure sketched above, led to the discovery
of two very active bodies, polonium and radium. The name polonium
was given to the first substance discovered by Mme Curie
in honour of the country of her birth. The name radium was
a very happy inspiration of the discoverers, for this substance in
the pure state possesses the property of radio-activity to an
astonishing degree.
Radium is extracted from pitchblende by the process used to separate barium, to which radium is very closely allied in chemical properties[1]. After the removal of other substances, the radium remains behind mixed with barium. It can, however, be partially separated from the latter by the difference in solubility of the chlorides in water, alcohol, or hydrochloric acid. The chloride of radium is less soluble than that of barium, and can be separated from it by the method of fractional crystallization. After a large number of precipitations, the radium can be freed almost completely from the barium.
Both polonium and radium exist in infinitesimal quantities in pitchblende. In order to obtain a few decigrammes of very active radium, it is necessary to use several tons of pitchblende, or the
- ↑ M. and Mme Curie and G. Bemont, C. R. 127, p. 1215, 1898.
