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possesses, however, a remarkable property which barium does not.  Its atoms are not equally stable.  In a given quantity of radium a certain very small percentage of the total number of atoms present break up per second.  By “breaking up” we mean their transmutation to another element.  Radium, which is a solid element under ordinary conditions, gives rise by transmutation to a gaseous element—­the emanation of radium.  The new element is a heavy gas at ordinary temperatures and, like other gases, can be liquified by extreme cold.  The extraordinary property of transmutation is entirely automatic.  No influence which chemist or physicist can apply can affect the rate of transformation.

The emanation inherits the property of instability, but in its case the instability is more pronounced.  A relatively large fraction of its atoms transmute per second to a solid element designated Radium A. In turn this new generation of atoms breaks up—­even faster than the emanation—­becoming yet another element with specific chemical properties.  And so on for a whole sequence of transmutations, till finally a stable substance is formed, identical with ordinary lead in chemical and physical properties, but possessing a slightly lower atomic weight.

The genealogy of the radium series of elements shows that radium is not the starting point.  It possesses ancestors which have been traced back to the element uranium.

Now what bearing has this series of transmutations

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upon medical science?  Radium or emanation, &c., are not in the Pharmacopoeia as are, say, arsenic or bismuth.  The whole medicinal value of these elements resides in the very wonderful phenomena of their radiations.  They radiate in the process of transmuting.

The changing atom may radiate a part of its own mass.  The “alpha"-ray (a-ray) is such a material ray.  It is an electrified helium atom cast out of the parent atom with enormous velocity—­such a velocity as would carry it, if not impeded, all round the earth in two seconds.  All alpha-rays are positively electrified atoms of the element helium, which thereby is shown to be an integral constituent of many elements.  The alpha-ray is not of much value to medical science, for, in spite of its great velocity, it is soon stopped by encounter with other atoms.  It can penetrate only a minute fraction of a millimetre into ordinary soft tissues.  We shall not further consider it.

Transmuting atoms give out also material rays of another kind:  the ss-rays.  The ss-ray is in mass but a very small fraction of, even, a hydrogen atom.  Its speed may approach that of light.  As cast out by radioactive elements it starts with speeds which vary with the element, and may be from one-third to nine-tenths the velocity of light.  The ss-ray is negatively electrified.  It has long been known to science as the electron.  It is also identical with the cathode ray of the vacuum tube.