are connected with the atomic weights of the elements in question, and Runge and Precht have calculated by these means that the atomic weight of radium should be 258—a number considerably greater than the number 225 obtained by Mme Curie by means of chemical analysis. Marshall Watts[1], on the other hand, using another relation between the lines of the spectrum, deduced the value obtained by Mme Curie. Runge[2] has criticised the method of deduction employed by Marshall Watts on the ground that the lines used for comparison in the different spectra were not homologous. Considering that the number found by Mme Curie agrees with that required by the periodic system, it is advisable in the present state of our knowledge to accept the experimental number rather than the one deduced by Runge and Precht from spectroscopic evidence.
There is no doubt that radium is a new element possessing remarkable physical properties. The detection and separation of this substance, existing in such minute proportions in pitchblende, has been due entirely to the characteristic property we are considering, and is the first notable triumph of the study of radio-activity. As we shall see later, the property of radio-activity can be used, not only as a means of chemical research, but also as an extraordinarily delicate method of detecting chemical changes of a very special kind.
15. Radiations from radium. On account of its enormous
activity, the radiations from radium are very intense: a screen of
zinc sulphide, brought near a few centigrams of radium bromide,
is lighted up quite brightly in a dark room, while brilliant
fluorescence is produced on a screen of platino-barium cyanide.
An electroscope brought near the radium salt is discharged almost
instantly, while a photographic plate is immediately affected.
At a distance of one metre, a day's exposure to the radium
rays would produce a strong impression. The radiations from
radium are analogous to those of uranium, and consist of three
types of rays: easily absorbed, penetrating, and very penetrating.
Radium also gives rise to an emanation similar to that of thorium,
