Sir William Ramsay regards his experimental results as establishing a large probability in favour of the assertion that compounds of copper were transformed into compounds of lithium and sodium, and compounds of thorium, of cerium, and of certain other rare metals, into compounds of carbon.

The experimental evidence in favour of this statement has not been accepted by chemists as conclusive.

A way has, however, been opened which may lead to discoveries of great moment.
Let us suppose that the transformation of one element into another element or into other elements has been accomplished.

Let us suppose that the conception of elementary atoms as very stable arrangements of many identical particles, from about a thousand to about a quarter of a million times lighter than the atoms, has been justified by crucial experiments.

Let us suppose that the conception of the minute grains of radio-active substances as particular but constantly changing arrangements of the same identical particles, stable groups of which are the atoms of the elements, has been firmly established.