Abstract
THE mystery that enshrouds the ultimate nature of the physical universe has always stimulated the curiosity of thinking man. Of old, philosophers sought to solve the cosmic problem by abstract reasoning, but to-day we agree that the only hope of penetrating into the closely guarded secret lies in the precise estimation of that which is tangible and visible. Knowledge of the actual behaviour of material and of energy provides the only safe basis for logical inference as to the real essence of things. Faraday was deeply imbued with this conviction; and it is widely recognised as the basis of all modern experimental science. The subject of my lecture to-night concerns the methods and general results of several extended series of investigations, planned with the hope of adding a little to the foundations of human knowledge by means of careful experiment.
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References
Plato, Philebus (trans. Jowett), 1875, vol. iv., p. 104.
Sir W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin), address to British Association, August, 1871 Life, ii., 600.
Richards, Methods Used in Precise Chemical Investigation, published by the Carnegie Inst. of Washington, 1910, No. 125, p. 97.
See especially Rydberg, Zeitsch. anorg. Chem., 1897, xiv., 66.
Richards, The Significance of Changing Atomic Volume, Proc Amer. Acad, 1901, xxxvii., 1; 1902, xxxvii., 300; 1902, xxxviii., 293; 1904, xxxix., 581; Zeitsch. physikal. Chem., 1902, xl., 169, 597; 1903, xlii., 129; 1904, xlix., 15.
Van der Waals, Zeitsch. physikal. Chem., 1903, xxviii., 257. His earlier publication on this topic (Proc. R. Akad. Wetensch. Amsterdam, 1898, xxix., 138) was unknown to me at that time. See also Lewis, Proc. Amer. Acad., 1899, xxxv., 21.
H. Landolt, ber die Erhaltung der Masse bei Chem. Umwandlungen, Abhandlung der knigl. preuss. Akad. der Wissenschaften, 1910.
Richards, Zeitsch. anorg. Chem., 1892, i., 196; Proc. Amer. Acad., 1893, xxviii., 200.
Baker and Adlam, Trans., 1911, xcix., 507.
Richards and Behr, Publ. Carnegie Inst., 1906, lxi.
Jacquerod and Perrot, Compt. rend., 1907, cxliv., 135.
Since these ideas were first advanced, Barlow and Pope have brought forward much interesting evidence concerring the significance of the volumes of solids and liquids, which supports the idea that the atoms are closely in contact with one another (Trans. 1906, lxxxix., 1675; 1907, xci., 1150; 1908, xciii., 1528; 1910, xcvii., 2308).
E. Grneisen, Ann. Physik. 1910, [iv], xxxiii., 1239. The relative values for the compressibilities recorded in this investigation are doubtless trustworthy, although the absolute magnitudes are somewhat uncertain because they depend on the rather inadequate theory of elasticity.
Richards, Proc. Amer. Acad., 1902, xxxvii., 399; also especially J. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1909, xxxi., 188.
Richards, Proc. Amer. Acad., 1904, xxxix., 581.
Ibid.
See especially Traube, Ann. Physik., 1897, [iii], lxi., 383; 1901. [iv], v., 548; 1902, viii., 267; 1907, xxii., 519; Zeitsch. physikal. Chem., 1910, lxviii., 289; also Walden, Zeitsch physikal. Chem., 1909, lxvi., 385 Their interpretation depends largely on the application of van der Waals's equation and the complicating assumption of a co-volume; however, Walden's very recent paper presents a number of interesting and important relations concerning internal pressure, which seem to demand the assumption of atomic compressibility for their explanation.
Richards and Mathews, Zeitsch. physikal. Chem., 1908, lxi., 449.
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The Fundamental Properties of the Elements 1 . Nature 87, 29–32 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087029a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/087029a0