The interpretation of radium : being the substance of six free popular experimental lectures delivered at the University of Glasgow, 1908 / by Frederick Soddy ; with illustrations.

  • Soddy, Frederick, 1877-1956.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The interpretation of radium : being the substance of six free popular experimental lectures delivered at the University of Glasgow, 1908 / by Frederick Soddy ; with illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    puny power. This is the message of hope and in- spiration to the race which radium has contributed to the great problems of existence. No attempt at presentation of this new subject could be considered complete which did not, however imperfectly, suggest something of this side. Released as physical science now is from the feel- ing of hopelessness in dealing with such matters, and at the same time in possession of vast general- isations concerning matter and energy of more than mere abstract significance to the race, it is fitting to attempt to see how far purely physical considerations will take us in delimiting the major controlling influ- ences which regulate our existence. It is possible, without breaking any of the new ground, to go a long way. Just as you must feed a child at school before it can be educated, as you must provide a man with the possibility of some- thing- more than a brute struggle for life before he can be civilised, so generally in the same sense the physical conditions which encircle existence of necessity take precedence over every other con- sideration. Whatever other aspect of life is con- sidered, and they are many and as yet but little dealt with by science for the most part, the physical aspect comes first, in the sense that if the physical conditions of life are unfavourable, nothing can be expected of any higher aspect.