one-fourth of its final value; it gradually rises to a maximum after the radium salt has been kept in the dry state for about a month. For control experiments in purification, it is advisable to measure the initial rather than the final activity.
Mme Curie has utilized the coloration of the crystals of radiferous barium as a means of controlling the final process of purification. The crystals of salts of radium and barium deposited from acid solutions are indistinguishable by the eye. The crystals of radiferous barium are at first colourless, but, in the course of a few hours, become yellow, passing to orange and sometimes to a beautiful rose colour. The rapidity of this coloration depends on the amount of barium present. Pure radium crystals do not colour, or at any rate not as rapidly as those containing barium. The coloration is a maximum for a definite proportion of radium, and this fact can be utilized as a means of testing the amount of barium present. When the crystals are dissolved in water the coloration disappears.
Giesel[1] has observed that pure radium bromide gives a beautiful carmine colour to the Bunsen flame. If barium be present in any quantity, only the green colour due to barium is observed, and a spectroscopic examination shows only the barium lines. This carmine coloration of the Bunsen flame is a good indication of the purity of the radium.
Since the preliminary announcement of the discovery of radium, Giesel[2] has devoted a great deal of attention to the separation of radium, polonium and other active bodies from pitchblende. He was indebted for his working material to the firm of P. de Haen, of Hanover, who presented him with a ton of pitchblende residues. Using the method of fractional crystallization of the bromide instead of the chloride, he has been able to prepare considerable quantities of pure radium. By this means the labour of final purification of radium has been much reduced. He states that six or eight crystallizations with the bromide are sufficient to free the radium almost completely from the barium.
13. Spectrum of radium. It was of great importance to
settle as soon as possible whether radium was in reality modified
