Page:Radio-active substances.djvu/88

 Rutherford precipitated a solution of a salt of thorium with ammonia; he separated off the solution and evaporated it to dryness. He thus obtained a small very active residue, and the precipitated thorium was observed to be less active than before. This active residue, to which Mr. Rutherford gives the name of thorium X, loses its activity after a time, whilst the thorium regains its original activity.

It appears, then, that concerning induced radio-activity all bodies do not behave in a similar manner, and that certain of them are much more readily excited than others.

In making investigations of strongly radio-active bodies, particular precautions must be observed for obtaining delicate determinations. The different objects used in the chemical laboratory and those used for physical experiments soon acquire radio-activity, and act upon photographic plates through black paper. Dust particles, the air of the room, clothing, all become radio-active. The air of the room becomes a conductor. In our laboratory the evil has become acute, and we no longer have any apparatus properly insulated.

Special precautions must therefore be taken to avoid as much as possible the dissemination of active dust particles, and to avoid also the phenomena of induced activity.

The objects employed in chemistry should never be brought into the room where physical research is carried on, and as far as possible should be avoided any unnecessary keeping of active substances in this room. Before beginning our researches we were in the habit, in the case of electrical experiments, of making a connection between the different parts of the apparatus by insulated metallic wires, protected by metal cylinders connected to earth, which screened the wires from all outside electrical forces. In the investigation of radio-active bodies this arrangement is quite defective; the air being a conductor there is incomplete insulation between the thread and the cylinder, and the inevitable electromotive force of contact between the thread and the cylinder tends to produce a current through the air, and to cause a deflection of the electrometer. We now screen all the wires from the air by placing them inside cylinders filled with paraffin or other insulating material. It would also be advantageous in these investigations to make use of carefully enclosed electrometers.