Abstract
SINCE writing last week, I have made further experiments on the cubical mineral, and have myself carefully examined the earth constituents. The statement made last week, that there is only an insignificant amount of thorium present, must be modified. On re-determining the equivalent of the crude oxalate, prepared after the yttrium metals had been separated by treatment with potassium sulphate, it has come out higher than I expected; indeed, assuming the metal present to be a tetrad, its atomic weight is even higher than that of thorium—about 240, as the mean of two closely concordant determinations. The lower equivalents mentioned in the previous letter were determined as fractions of the double potassium sulphate, prepared on a large scale. This high atomic weight points to the presence of unknown elements of higher atomic weight than thorium; indeed, the mineral appears to be of very complex composition. It may be incidentally remarked that the crude oxalate mentioned above must have contained all the cerium group, and if any considerable proportion of the elements of this group is present, the amount of the element with higher atomic weight than that of thorium would have to be proportionately increased. The high radio-activity would point to the presence of the elements obtained from thorium residues mentioned by Prof. Baskerville, which he states to be radio-active.
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RAMSAY, W. A New Mineral from Ceylon. Nature 69, 559 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/069559c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069559c0
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