Page:Radio-activity.djvu/537

 Cave, for example, the conductivity of the air was nine times the normal, but in the Iberg Cave only three times the normal. In a cellar at Clausthal the conductivity was only slightly greater than the normal, but the excited radio-activity obtained on a negatively charged wire exposed in it was only 1/11 of the excited radio-activity obtained when the wire was exposed in the free air. They concluded from these experiments that the amount of radio-activity in the different places probably varied with the nature of the soil. Observations were then made on the conductivity of the air sucked up from the earth at different parts of the country. The clayey and limestone soils at Wolfenbüttel were found to be strongly active, the conductivity varying from four to sixteen times the normal amount. A sample of air from the shell limestone of Würzburg and from the basalt of Wilhelmshöhe showed very little activity.

Experiments were made to see whether any radio-active substance could be detected in the soil itself. For this purpose some earth was placed on a dish and introduced under a bell-jar, similar to that shown in Fig. 103. The conductivity of the air in the bell-jar increased with the time, rising to three times the normal value after several days. Little difference was observed whether the earth was dry or moist. The activity of the soil seemed to be permanent, for no change in the activity was observed after the earth had been laid aside for eight months.

Attempts were then made to separate the radio-active constituent from the soil by chemical treatment. For this purpose a sample of clay was tested. By extraction with hydrochloric acid all the calcium carbonate was removed. On drying the clay the activity was found to be reduced, but it spontaneously regained its original activity in the course of a few days. It seems probable, therefore, that an active product had been separated from the soil by the acid. Elster and Geitel consider that an active substance was present in the clay, which formed a product more readily soluble in hydrochloric acid than the active material itself. There seemed to be a process of separation analogous to that of Th X from thorium by precipitation with ammonia.

Experiments were also made to see whether substances placed in the earth acquired any radio-activity. For this purpose samples