I Was Taught That The Way Of

Certein Bodies... Become Luminous When Heated. Their Luminosity Disappears After Some Time, But The Capacity Of Becoming Luminous Afresh Through Heat Is Restored To Them By The Action Of A Spark, And Also By The Action Of Radium.

Pierre Curie Voluntarily Exposed His Arm To The Action Of Radium For Several Hours. This Resulted In Damage Resembling A Burn That Developed Progressively And Required Several Months To Heal. Henri Becquerel Had By Accident A Similar Burn As A Result Of Carrying In His Vest Pocket A Glass Tube Containing Radium Salt. He Came To Tell Us Of This Evil Effect Of Radium, Exclaiming In A Manner At Once Delighted And Annoyed: "i Love It, But I Owe It A Grudge."

This Means That We Have Here An Entirely Separate Kind Of Chemistry For Which The Current Tool We Use Is The Electrometer, Not The Balance, And Which We Might Well Call The Chemistry Of The Imponderable.

A Scientist In His Laboratory Is Not A Mere Technician: He Is Also A Child Confronting Natural Phenomena That Impress Him As Though They Were Fairy Tales.

After All, Science Is Essentially International, And It Is Only Through Lack Of The Historical Sense That National Qualities Have Been Attributed To It.