ABSTRACT

Since the initial experiments of Ramsay and Soddy in 1903, the production of helium from radium and its emanation have been completely substantiated by a number of independent observers. On the view that the a particle is a helium atom, the appearance of helium from radioactive matter in general receives a simple and satisfactory explanation. It might be thought that the presence of the helium in the discharge-tube would interfere with the detection of a small quantity of neon. Cameron and Ramsay point out that if the emanation produces neon in the presence of water, neon should be found in the water solution of the radium salt from which the emanation is pumped off, and they state that they have observed the spectrum of neon from the gases thus obtained from the radium solution. The residual gas, mostly oxygen, was tested, by the method described, for neon.