The Constancy of Atomic Weights

Abstract

THE natural desire we have to attain finality in argument or experiment is usually helpful to progress but sometimes needs restraint. Believing such a need to exist in current thought upon the subject of this letter, we enter a plea for the retention of an open mind as to whether, in fact, elements as they naturally occur have always and everywhere the same atomic weight. The problem is evidently of fundamental importance, and its elucidation is likely to be hindered if chemists generally regard it as solved. We can the more easily ask for judgment to be reserved, as work done in these laboratories has provided the best evidence yet available for both constancy and variability in atomic weight.