Radium Explained. By Dr. W. Hampson. (T. C. and E.
C. Jack. ls. net.)—We cannot attempt to put into the small space available any epitome of Dr. Hampson's highly concentrated account of radium. What this marvellous substance does admits of being briefly stated, so far as our present knowledge goes, but why and how it does it is another matter. Dr. Hampson does his best to give an explanation of the causes, and his account is decidedly helpful, but he is very far, as, indeed, he is perfectly well aware, from having said the last word. As for the uses of radium, at present they are insignificant; the great hopes once held that it would cure cancer are, to say the least, not ful- filled,—but the potentialities which it opens up are incalculable. Here we seem to see something which will solve the serious problem of the exhaustion of the substances out of which the working energies of practical life are supplied. Is there not an andogy to tho unwasting force of radium in the familiar phenomenon of the grain of musk which will give out for years a strong perfume, so strong as to cause faintness in some sensitive subjects, and yet suffer no appreciable loss of weight ?
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