the material appears to be surrounded by a luminous haze produced by the emanation. The radiations produce strong luminosity in some substances, for example, zinc sulphide, willemite and platino-*cyanide of barium. The luminosity is especially marked on screens of zinc sulphide. Much of this effect is due to the emanation, for, on gently blowing a current of air over the substance, the luminosity is displaced at once in the direction of the current. With a zinc sulphide screen, actinium shows the phenomena of "scintillations" to an even more marked degree than radium itself.
The preparations of emanium are in some cases luminous, and a spectroscopic examination of this light has shown a number of bright lines[1].
The distinctive character of the emanation of actinium, as well as of the other radio-active products to which it gives rise, coupled with the permanence of its activity, renders it very probable that actinium will prove to be a new radio-active element of very great activity. Although very active preparations of actinium have been obtained, it has not yet been found possible to free it from impurities. Consequently, no definite observations have been made on its chemical properties, and no new spectrum lines have been observed.
A more complete discussion of the radio-active and other properties of actinium is given in later chapters.
19. Polonium. Polonium was the first of the active substances
obtained from pitchblende. It has been investigated in
detail by its discoverer Mme Curie[2]. The pitchblende was dissolved
in acid and sulphuretted hydrogen added. The precipitated
sulphides contained an active substance, which, after separation
of impurities, was found associated with bismuth. This active
substance, which has been named polonium, is so closely allied in
chemical properties to bismuth that it has so far been found
impossible to effect a complete separation. Partial separation of
polonium can be made by successive fractionations based on one
of the following modes of procedure:
(1) Sublimation in a vacuum. The active sulphide is more
