ABSTRACT
This chapter includes early papers written in New Zealand, at the Cavendish Laboratory and during the Montreal period (1894-1906), as well as an introduction to Lord Rutherford's early work by Sir Edward Appleton, and some reminiscences of his time in Canada by Professors H. L. Bronson and Otto Hahn. The interesting property of certain kinds of charcoal, notably that of the cocoa-nut, of rapidly absorbing gases, except the inert gases belonging to the argon family, is now well known since the recent experiments of Sir James Dewar. The emanation mixed with a small quantity of gas can at any time be obtained from the charcoal by heating. The greater part of the emanation is released by heating the charcoal below a red heat. If some powdered willemite is added with the charcoal, the gradual absorption of the emanation is shown by the increasing brilliancy of the phosphorescence produced in the surrounding willemite.
