Abstract
THIS tract, by the famous chemical philosopher whose seventieth birthday has recently been welcomed by the congratulations of the whole scientific world, contains the views of the author of the periodic law with regard to the classification under that law of the recently discovered inert gases. Prof. Mendeléeff places hydrogen at the head of his group i., containing the metals of the alkalis, and makes a special group zero for the inert gases. He gives his reasons for thinking that in this group there are two elements lighter than helium. One of them, of density about 0.2 compared with hydrogen, he identifies with coronium, the source of the characteristic spectrum of the solar corona. Such a gas could not, in accordance with the views first promulgated by Stoney, be retained in the earth's atmosphere, but might be prominent in the higher regions of that of the sun. The other, which he feels justified in taking of extremely low density, he proposes to identify with the ether, which cannot be held by any heavenly body, but is spread through all space. No mention is made of Maxwell's classical objection that the ether cannot be molecular, for if it were, all the energy of the universe would have been transferred into it. He notes incidentally, in connection with the uniform scale and composition of the universe, that most stars the masses of which are known are of the same order of magnitude as the sun. He thinks the condensation of ether towards the massive stars is connected with their intense radiation. He also thinks that the activity of the molecules of radium must be connected with a special condensation of ether around them; for his opinion, stated with reserve and without the certainty which he felt with regard to his views on the periodic law, is entirely against any breaking up of molecules or degradation of elements into other forms, and he therefore rejects the idea of electrons.
An Attempt towards a Chemical Conception of the Ether.
By Prof. D. Mendeléeff. Translated by George Kamensky. Pp. 51. (London: Longmans and Co., 1904.) Price 2s. net.
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L., J. An Attempt towards a Chemical Conception of the Ether . Nature 69, 558 (1904). https://doi.org/10.1038/069558a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/069558a0