The Lost Elements

The Periodic Table's Shadow Side

Marco Fontani, Mariagrazia Costa, and Mary Virginia Orna

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS CONTENTS

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xvn

Note to the Reader xxi

Introduction xxm Why Collect into One Volume the Discoveries of Elements that Have Been Shown to be Erroneous or Have Been Forgotten? xxm

How "an Element" Became a "Chemical Element" xxiv

Is There Any Order to the Discoveries of the Elements? xxvm The Development of the Periodic Table xxx

Part I: Before 1789: Early Errors and Early Elements Prologue to Part I 1 I.i. The Beginning of a Long Series of Scientific Blunders 3 I.1.1. Terra Nobilis 3

1.1.2. Siderum and Hydrosiderum 3 1.1.3. Sydneium or Australium 4 1.1.4. The Element That Breathes 6

1.1.5. The Birth of Homeopathy 7 1.2. The Elements Hidden by Alternative Names 12

I. 2.1. Metallum Problematicum or Tellurium 12

I.2.2. Ochroite or Cerium 13

I. 2.3. Ceresium or Palladium 13 I. 2.4. Erythronium, Panchromium or Vanadium 14

Part II: 1789-1869: From Lavoisier to Mendeleev: The First Errors at the Dawn of the Concept of the Chemical Element Prologue to Part II 19 II.1. Analytical Methodology from Lavoisier to Mendeleev 21 II. l.l. Blowpipe Analysis 22 II. 1.2. Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis 23 II. 1.3. Electrolysis 23 II.1.4. Emission Spectroscopy 24 II.2. The Elements of the Kingdom of Naples 27 II.2.1. Ruprecht and Tondi: Two Metallurgists Without Metals 27 II.2.2. Playing Bingo with Five Elements 28 II.2.3. The Extraction Procedure of the New Metals 29 II.2.4. Right or Wrong, Was Tondi the Victim of a Sworn Enemy? 29 II. 2.5. The Elements that Replaced Those of Tondi 30

vii Viii CONTENTS

II.2.6. Possible Present-Day Interpretations 31 II.2.7. Revolution Offers a Second Career Possibility 33 II.3. Austrium: One Element, Two Elements, Three Elements, and Finally, Zero Elements 36 11.3.1. The First Fleeting Attempt to Name an Element Austrium 36 II.3.2. Austrium: A Posthumous Element 36

II.3.3. The "Austrian Element" of a Czech Chemist 38 II.3.4. A Third "Split" for Bohuslav Brauner 41 II.4. The Return of the Olympians: Silene, Aridium, Saturnum, Pelopium, Dianium, Neptunium, and Plutonium 43

II.4.1. Silene 43

11.4.2. Aridium 44

11.4.3. Saturnum 45 11.4.4. Pelopium 46

11.4.5. Dianium 47 11.4.6. Neptunium 48 11.4.7. Plutonium 49

II.5. The Unfortunate Affair of a Student of Kant: A Career Soldier, but a Chemist by Passion 53 II.5.1. Niccolanum 53

II.5.2. The Road from Oblivion 54 II.6. Andre-Marie Ampere Bursts onto the Chemistry Scene 56 II.6.1. "Phtore" 56

II.7. Cadmium: "Bone of Contention" Among Chemical Elements 59 II.7.1. A Related Discovery Increases the Confusion: Vestium 60 II.8. A Fireproof Family of Chemists 62 II.8.1. Chemistry as the Common Denominator 62 II.8.2. The Most Improbable of the Chemical Elements 63 II.9. A Bridge of False Hopes Between Divinityand False Elements 65 11.9.1. Crodonium 65 11.9.2. Wodanium 66 II.9.3. False Elements Exchanged for Another False Element 67 II.9.4. Ptene 69

II.9.5. Donarium 70

II.10. Gahnium, Polinium, and Pluranium 73

II.10.1. Gahnium 73

II. 10.2. Polinium and Pluranium 73 II.11. Aberdonia and the "Sweet" Map of Oblivion 77 11.11.1. Donium 77 11.11.2. Treenium 78 II.11.3. The Discovery of an AlreadyKnown Element? 79 II.11.4. The Sweet Epilogue Leaves a Bitter Taste in the Mouth 80 II.12. The Brief Parentheses of Four Misleading Elements 82 II.12.1. The Fleeting Existence of Thalium 82 11.12.2. The Meteoric Appearance and Disappearance of Comesium 83 II.12.3. The Mysterious Nature of Ouralium 84 II.12.4. The Brief History of Idunium 85 ix Contents

II.13. Two Imaginary Elements: Sulphurium and Sulfenium 87 11.13.1. Sulphurium 87 II.13.2. The Ancient Modernity of Sulfenium 88 II.14. The Astronomer "Left in the Dark" 91 11.14.1. "Light" as a Means of Chemical Investigation 91 II. 14.2. A New Family of Elements from an Old Family of Astronomers 92 II. 14.3. Neptunium Is Tempting to a Lot of People 93 11.14.4. Conclusion 93 II.15. Bythium and 6: Two Elements That Arose (and Vanished) via Electrolysis 95 II.16. The Ghosts of Unnamed Elements 97

II.16.1. 1799: The Element of Fernandez 97 11.16.2. 1852: The Element of Friedrich August Genth 97 II.16.3. 1852: The Element of Carl Anton Hjalmar Sjogren 98 II.16.4. 1861: The Element of the Brothers August and Friedrich Wilhelm Dupre 98 II.16.5. 1862: The Element of Charles Frederick Chandler 99 II.16.6. 1864: The Elements of William Nylander and Carl Bischoff 101 II.16.7. 1869: The Element of Oscar Loew 102

II.16.8. 1878: The Elements of William Balthasar Gerland 102

II.16.9. 1883: The Element of Theodor Eduard Wilm 103

II.16.10. 1897: The Elements of Gethen G. Boucher and F. Ruddock 104

II. 16.11. 1904: The Radium Foil of George Frederick Kunz 104 11.16.12. 1908: The Element of Clare de Brereton Evans 105

11.16.13. 1913: The Element of H.C.Holtz 107

Part III: 1869-1913: From the PeriodicTable to Moseley's Law: Rips and Tears in Mendeleev's Net

Prologue to Part III 109

III. i. The Forerunners of Celtium and Hafnium: Ostranium, Norium, Jargonium, Nigrium, Euxenium, Asium, and Oceanium 111 III. 2. The Discoveries of the Rare Earths Approach Their End: Philippium, Element X, Decipium, Mosandrium, Rogerium, and Columbium 119 III.2.1. Philippium and Element X 119

111.2.2. Mosandrium 121

111.2.3. Decipium and the Complexity of Didymium 122 III.2.4. Rogerium and Columbium 124 111.2.5. Conclusion 124 III.3. Lavoesium and Davyum: The Rise and Fall of Two Metals with Illustrious Names 128 III.3.1. The Discovery of Lavcesium 128 III. 3.2. A Residue of Workon Platinum: Davyum 129 III.3.3. Lavcesium Falls into Oblivion 130 III.3.4. Davyum's Long Agony 131 III.3.5. Conclusion 132

III. 4. The Complex Events Surrounding Two "Scandinavian" Metals: Norwegium and Wasium 135 X CONTENTS

111.4.1. The Announcement of the Discovery of Norwegium 136 III.4.2. Norwegium 136 III.4.3. A Second Claimant 137 111.4.4. The "Launching" of Wasium 138 111.4.5. The "Shipwreck" of Wasium 138 111.4.6. The Epilogue to Norwegium 139 III.5. Vesbium: An Element from the Center of the Earth 143 III.6. The Curious Case of the Triple Discovery of Actinium 147 III.6.1. The First Announcement of the Discovery of Actinium 147 III.6.2. Confessions of a Violinist 149 III.6.3. Did the Search for Neoactinium Really Delay the Discovery of Francium? 150

III.6.4. A Cold Shower at the End of a Career 152 III.7. The Improbable Elements of a Country Gentleman 155 III.8. A Bridge Between the Protochemistryof the Pharaohs and the Arab World: Masrium 158 III.9. The Demon Hidden in the Rare Earths 161 III.9.1. Provincial America Suits the Great Physicist Just Fine 161

111.9.2. The Son of a Protestant Pastor Discovers a Demon 162 III.9.3. The Tragic Conclusion 163 III.10. Dim Lights and Dark Shadows Around "Lucium" 165 III.10.1. Preview of the Discovery 165 111.10.2. The Discovery of the First "Patented" Element 165 III.10.3. The Interventions of Crookes, Fresenius, and Shapleigh 167 III.10.4. Who Was Manipulating Lucium's Strings from Behind the Scenes? 168 III.11. In the Beginning There Was Didymium... and Then ChaosAmong the Rare Earths 171

III.ll.l. Didymium: An Awkward Lodger in the /-Family 171 III.11.2. The Splitting of Didymium: Praeseodidymium and Neodidymium 173 III.11.3. A "Colorful" War: Glaucodidymium OR Glaucodymium 173 III.11.4. Claude-Henri Gorceix and Bohuslav Brauner Intervene in the Chaos 174 IILia. Sir William Ramsay: The Most "Noble" of Chemists 178 III.12.1. The First Discoveries 178 III.12.2. A Wrong Track 180 III.12.3. Anomalous Argon: The ElementThat Would Not Fit 181 III.12.4. A Pause in Research 182 III.12.5. Radioactivity and the Discovery of Niton 183 III.12.6. A Harvest of Laurels at the Conclusion of His Career 186 III.12.7. Postscript: Krypton II 187 III.13. Confederate and Union Stars in the PeriodicTable 191

III.13.1. Introduction 191

III.13.2. Carolinium (and Berzelium) 192

III.13.3. Conclusion 195 III.14. Two Elements from the Depths of Provincial Americana 198 III.15. The Early Successes of the Young Urbain 200

III.15.1. Bauxium 201

III.15.2. From Monium to Victorium and in Pursuit of Ionium and

Incognitum 202 xi Contents

111.15.3. The Element E or X2 206 111.15.4. The Meta Elements 208

III. 15.5. The Elements of Paul Emile (Francois) Lecoq de Boisbaudran and of Eugene-Anatole Demarcay 210 NI.15.6. TheTerbium-I.Terbium-II.andTerbium-IIIofWelsbach 213 III. 16. The Setting of the Element of the "Rising Sun" 219

III. 17. The Times Have Changed: From Canadium to Quebecium 224 III.17.1. Who Is Pierre Demers? 226

Part IV: 1914-1939: From Nuclear Classification to the First Accelerators: Chemists' Paradise Lost... (and Physicists' Paradise Regained) Prologue to Part IV 231 IVa. From the Eclipse of Aldebaranium and Cassiopeium to the Priority Conflict Between Celtium and Hafnium 233 IV.1.1. A Collective History: The Rare Earths 233 IV.1.2. The Lights of Paris Hide the Stars 233 IV.1.3. Celtium 235

IV.1.4. Neo-Celtium 235

IV.1.5. Celtium Doesn't Have a Leg to Stand On 238

IV. 2. From the Presumed Inert Elements to Those Lost in the Dead Sea 246 IV.2.1. The Atomic Theory of James Moir and the Subelements X and Zoikon 246 IV.2.2. The Harmonization of the Elements and the Inert Elements 247 Number 75 IV.2.3. From England to Prague on the Trail of Element 249 IV.2.4. On the Banks of the Dead Sea: The First Investigations for the

Identification of Element 87 251

IV.2.5. Alkalinium 252 IV.2.6. Alkalinium's Epilogue 257 IV.3. A Success "Transmuted" into Failure 260 IV.3.1. Brevium 260

IV.3.2. Lisonium and Lisottonium 262 IV.3.3. Radio-Brevium and the Missed Discovery of Nuclear Fission 264 IV.3.4. Brevium's Last Gasp 265

to the Birth of the Earth IV.4. From Pleochroic Haloes 267 IV.4.1. The Origins of the Irish Physicist 267 IV.4.2. Radioactivity Makes Dating of the Earth Possible 268 IV.4.3. Hibernium: An Elusive Element 270 Will Eat It IV.5. If Anyone Has a Sheep, Wolfram 272 IV.5.1. The Neighbors of Molybdenum and Tungsten 274 IV.6. When It Comes to New Discoveries, the More You Err, You End Up Erring More 278 I V.7. The Radioactive Element of the Hot Springs 284 IV.8. Moseleyum: The Twofold Attempt to Honor a Hero 286 IV.9. The Inorganic Evolution of Element 61: Florentium, Illinium, Cyclonium and Finally Promethium 289 IV.9.1. Florentium, the Metal of the Florentines 291 IV.9.2. The Americans Discover Illinium 295 Xii CONTENTS

IV.9.3. Integrity Comes with a Price Tag 299 IV.9.4. Florentium Ends Up in Court 301 IV.9.5. Cyclonium 302 IV.9.6. The Retraction of the Discovery of Florentium 303

IV.9.7. Conclusion 304 IV.9.8. Epilogue 306 IV.10. Masurium: An X-Ray Mystery 310 IV.10.1. The Discovery of Rhenium and Masurium 310 1V.10.2. No More Mention of Masurium 312

IV.10.3. Panormium and Trinacrium 312 IV. 10.4. The Ignored and Underrated "Chemikerin" and Her Fission Hypothesis 315 IV.10.5. Declining Years: Sympathy for Nazism 317 IV.11. The Twilight of the Naturally Occurring Elements: Moldavium, Sequanium, and Dor 320 IV.11.1. Eka-Caesium: From Russia to Moldavia, through Virginia 321 IV.11.2. A Digression on X-Ray Wavelength: Precision, Units, and Conversion Factors 325 IV.11.3. Eka-Rhenium: Cum Caesar in Galliam Venit, Alterius Factionis Principes Erant Haedui Alterius Sequani... 326 IV.11.4. Alabamine and Virginium 327 IV.11.5. Eka-Iodine Assumes the Fanciful Name of Dor 331

IV.11.6. Conclusion 333

IV.12. A Cocktail of Chemistry and Espionage: Helvetium, Anglo-Helvetium,

and a Pair of Indian Elements 337 IV.12.1. Rajendralal De and His Twin Elements: Gourium and Dakin 337 IV.12.2. Walter Minder and Helvetium 339 IV.12.3. Alice Leigh-Smith and Anglo-Helvetium 340 IV.12.4. C. W.Martin and the "Elusive" Parentheses of Leptine 343 IV. 12.5. Academic Conflicts with Hulubei, Paneth, and Karlik 343

IV. 12.6. Conclusion 345

IV.13. Is Failure a Severe Master? 348 IV.13.1. Eline 348 IV.13.2. Verium 348

Part V : 1939-Present: Beyond Uranium, to the Stars Prologue to Part V 351 V.i. The Obsession of Physicists with the Frontier: The Case of Ausonium and Hesperium, Littorium and Mussolinium 353

V.2. Finis Materiae 361 V. 2.1. The Island of Nuclear Stability 365 V.2.2. Unfortunate Episodes in the Attribution of the Names of the Elements Between 101 and 109 366 V.2.3. From Atoms to the Stars 367 V.3. The Search for Primordial Superheavy Elements: Between Scientific Rigor and Atomic Fantasy 370 V. 4. Names, Names, and Names Again: From A to Zunzenium 375 xiii Contents

V.4.1. The Elements from Neptunium to Mendelevium Seen from Both Sides of

the Iron Curtain 375 V.4.2. The Step Longer than Its Leg: Nobelium 381 V.4.3. Chaos Surrounds Lawrencium, Rutherfordium, Dubnium, and Seaborgium 383 V.5. Do We Have to Live With Fantasy? Hawkingium and Zunzenium 391 V.6. Naming the Last Five Arrivals in the Great "Family of the Transuranium

Elements" 394

Part VI: No Place for Them in the Periodic Table: Bizarre Elements

Prologue to Part VI 401 VI. i. Inorganic Evolution: From Proto-Elements to Extinct Elements 403 VI.1.1. A Step Backward: Prime Matter, Andronia, and Thelyke 403

VI.1.2. Pantogen 405 VI.1.3. Protyle 406 VI. 1.4. Other Theories of Chemical Evolution 408

VI.I.5. The Asteroid Elements 410

VI.1.6. The Painful Finale 412 VI.2. Dazzling Traces of False Suns 415 VI.2.1. The Mirage of the Source of Stellar Energy 415 VI.2.2. The Curious Appearance of Kosmium and Neokosmium 417 VI.3. From the Nonexistent Elements of Mendeleev to the Puzzle of the

Existence of the Ether 419

VI.3.1. Coronium and Its Aftermath 421 VI.3.2. The Geocoronium Hypothesis 422 VI.3.3. Etherium: Elementary Gas or Subatomic Particle? 423 VI.4. Anodium and Cathodium 426

VI.5. The Exotic Damarium 428

VI. 6. Subtle Is the Air: The Case of Asterium 431

VI.7. Clairvoyance as a Means of Investigating Some "Occult Elements" 435 VI. 7.1. A Clairvoyant Investigates the Structure ofNew and Old Atoms and Their Position in the Periodic Table 435 VI.7.2. The Last Years of the Three Clairvoyants 440 VI.8. William Harkins's Element Zero: Neutronium 443

VI.8.1. A Place in the Periodic Table for the Element Without a Nuclear

Charge 444 VI.8.2. From the Nuclear "Alphabet" to the Hypothesis of Neutronium 444 VI.8.3. William Draper Harkins: A Versatile and Obstinate Chemist 446

Part VII : Modern Alchemy: The Dream to Transmute the Elements Has Always Been with Us Prologue to Part VII: Alchemy Then and Now 449 VII.i. A Piece of Research Gone Up in Smoke: Decomposition of Tungsten into Helium 451

VII. 2. Transmutations of Mercury into Gold 453

VII.3. Transmutations of Silver into Gold 457

VII. 4. Transmutation of Ores 461 Xiv CONTENTS

VII.5. Other Transmutations 464 VII.6. Biological Transmutation 465 VII.7. The Transmutation of Hydrogen into Helium and Neon 468 VII.8. Radiochemistry: A Child of Both Physics and Chemistry 470 VII.8.1. Willy Marckwald Makes His Mark: The Polonium Controversy 471 VII.8.2. William Ramsay "Out of his Element" 472 VII.8.3. Tellurium X 473 VII.9. Transmutation of Lead into Mercury 476 VII.10. Some Like It "Cold" 478 VII.11. Is Cold Fusion Hot Again? 480 Epilogue 480

Appendix: Chronological Finder's Guide for the Lost Elements 483

Bibliography 493

AboutThe Authors 499

Name Index 501

Lost Element Name Index 515

Subject Index 521