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Sites log: Willams-Crookes (William Crookes, "On Radiant Matter", 1879)

Run 1: 2026-10-06, Investigator (STEP I), first run (no earlier sites.md). Normal run, 10-minute cap: web browsing took about 7.5 minutes (start 1791321432, end +442 s), all in Chrome. Per-site notes are in research/2026-10-06-*.md.

Downloads: none were made in this run. Downloading needs the owner's go-ahead under the agent's safety rules, so useful files are listed with URLs/identifiers under "Files to download" below for the owner to approve. research/files/ is empty.

Site URL First checked Last checked Queries tried Result Recheck? Notes
Google (Chrome) https://www.google.com 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 10 queries (see Keywords tried, Q1-Q10) positive yes Finder for the other sites. Leads: GMU PDF of the Bakerian Lecture; Woodruff 1966; Gay 1996, 2003, 2008; DeKosky 1983; Crookes's later "radiant matter now passes as electrons" (Dyer 1920 obituary). research/2026-10-06-google.md
Royal Society, Science in the Making https://makingscience.royalsociety.org 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 Crookes molecular high vacua; Gimingham positive yes Stokes referee reports RR/8/151 (15 Jan 1879, Bakerian Lecture) and RR/8/152 (22 Apr 1879, "Contributions ... high vacua"; Stokes sent remarks and suggested "a further clarifying experiment"). Page images online, not yet read. Gimingham: nothing relevant. research/2026-10-06-makingscience-royalsociety.md
IET Archives blog https://ietarchivesblog.org/2017/05/10/charles-and-edward-gimingham-light-bulb-pioneers/ 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 (Google) Gimingham Crookes assistant Sprengel pump radiometer positive yes "Mr. Gimingham" = Charles Henry Gimingham (1853-1890), Crookes's private assistant about 1869-1881, multiple-tube Sprengel pump 1876. Papers at IET, SC MSS 285 (ledger 1878-1881). research/2026-10-06-ietarchivesblog.md
PubMed Central (Busch 2023) https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10311274/ 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 (Google) Crookes "radiant matter" Goldstein Hertz cathode rays controversy molecules versus ether waves positive no History of cathode-ray research: Hittorf 1869, Goldstein 1876 (ether view; dispute with Crookes), Puluj 1883 monograph rejecting the "fourth state". Quotes a photographic-fogging passage attributed to the 1879 lecture that is not in the project's copy. research/2026-10-06-pmc-ncbi.md
Internet Archive https://archive.org (advancedsearch JSON) 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 creator:(Crookes, William); Crookes AND ("radiant matter" OR "high vacua" OR "molecular pressure" OR "electricity in transitu" OR "radiant matter spectroscopy"); metadata of puluj-4th-state-of-matter positive yes Free scans of Crookes's Phil. Trans./Proc. R. Soc. papers 1878-1887 (Bakerian 1879, High Vacua 1878/1879, Electrical Insulation 1878, Radiant Matter Spectroscopy 1883-87); English Puluj "Radiant Electrode Matter and the so-called Fourth State" (Electrotherapy Museum upload). research/2026-10-06-archive-org.md
Harvard Lecture Demonstrations https://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/presentations/crt-paddle-wheel 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 (Google) Crookes paddle wheel tube "radiant matter" momentum heating explanation Thomson 1903 OR Starling OR replication positive no Modern working paddle-wheel tube (40 kV). Cites Starke 1900 (Ann. Phys. 3, 101-107) and Thomson 1903 (p.501): motion mainly radiometric heating, not momentum. research/2026-10-06-harvard-sciencedemonstrations.md
Science Museum Group Collection https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 crookes radiant matter; crookes tube gimingham; maker william-crookes; crookes notebook positive yes Crookes laboratory notebooks MS/0410, 5 vols, July 1875 - July 1883, incl. notes for the Sheffield lecture; "register slight radiation and are currently unavailable". Surviving Crookes tubes incl. ruby tube 1878-1888. research/2026-10-06-sciencemuseumgroup.md
Wikipedia, "Crookes tube" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crookes_tube 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 direct visit partial no Tertiary; leads only (Varley; Hertz/Schuster electrostatic deflection; Perrin 1895). Attributes the hinged-cross tube to Plücker 1869, which does not fit the lecture. research/2026-10-06-wikipedia.md
Papers Past (NZ) https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 "radiant matter" crookes, 1879-1881 blocked (extension site permission) yes Owner must allow the site in the Chrome extension. research/2026-10-06-blocked-sites.md
Chronicling America / loc.gov https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 phrase radiant matter + Crookes, 1879-1881 blocked (CAPTCHA / bot check) yes research/2026-10-06-blocked-sites.md
Theosophy Wiki https://theosophy.wiki/en/Radiant_Matter 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 direct visit blocked (CAPTCHA / bot check) yes Snippet only: Blavatsky took "radiant matter" as proof of more refined states of matter.
Sage Journals https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/007327530304100403 2026-10-06 2026-10-06 direct visit (Gay 2003) blocked (CAPTCHA / bot check) yes Whose diary Gay 2003 edits is not captured.
Royal Society Publishing (Phil. Trans./Proc.) https://royalsocietypublishing.org - - - not reached (time limit) yes Open the Bakerian Lecture (DOI 10.1098/rstl.1879.0065) and the 1879 "High Vacua" paper; C. H. Gimingham's 1876 Proc. R. Soc. pump paper.
JSTOR / Cambridge Core (Woodruff 1966; Gay 1996; DeKosky 1983) https://www.jstor.org ; https://www.cambridge.org/core - - - not reached (time limit) yes Abstracts and first pages only (no login).
Electrotherapy Museum (Jeff Behary) https://www.electrotherapymuseum.com - - - not reached (time limit) yes Source of the Puluj translation and the PSM scans; may hold more translated period texts.
Annalen der Physik (Starke 1900) / Biodiversity / Gallica - - - - not reached (time limit) yes Starke 1900; Goldstein 1876/1880; Hertz 1883; Puluj 1880-1883 originals (German).
Trove (Australia) / British Newspaper Archive (search pages only) - - - - not reached (time limit) yes Newspaper coverage of the Sheffield lecture, Aug-Sep 1879.

Keywords tried

Q1 Crookes "On the illumination of lines of molecular pressure" Bakerian 1878 Philosophical Transactions (Google) Q2 Crookes "Contributions to molecular physics in high vacua" 1879 OR 1880 (Google) Q3 Crookes molecular high vacua (Royal Society archive) Q4 Gimingham (Royal Society archive) Q5 Gimingham Crookes assistant Sprengel pump radiometer (Google) Q6 Crookes "radiant matter" Goldstein Hertz cathode rays controversy molecules versus ether waves (Google) Q7 creator:(Crookes, William) (archive.org) Q8 Crookes AND ("radiant matter" OR "high vacua" OR "molecular pressure" OR "electricity in transitu" OR "radiant matter spectroscopy") (archive.org) Q9 Crookes "fourth state of matter" 1879 plasma Langmuir 1928 origin of term (Google) Q10 "radiant matter" crookes 1879-1881 (Papers Past, blocked); phrase radiant matter + Crookes 1879-1881 (Chronicling America, blocked) Q11 Crookes paddle wheel tube "radiant matter" momentum heating explanation Thomson 1903 OR Starling OR replication (Google) Q12 crookes radiant matter; crookes tube gimingham; maker william-crookes; crookes notebook (Science Museum Group) Q13 "Technical assistance in the world of London science" Gimingham Crookes Notes and Records (Google) Q14 Hannah Gay "William Crookes and his circle of support" 1996 British Journal for the History of Science abstract (Google) Q15 Crookes "radiant matter" electrons later view 1897 OR 1898 OR 1891 "Electricity in transitu" presidential address (Google) Q16 Crookes "radiant matter now passes as" (Google)

Not yet tried (next run): "Charles Henry Gimingham" Sprengel 1876 Proceedings; Starke 1900 "mechanische Wirkung der Kathodenstrahlen"; Puluj "Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie" 1883; Goldstein Crookes Kathodenstrahlen Polemik 1880; Hertz 1883 "Versuche über die Glimmentladung"; Schuster 1884 OR 1890 cathode electrostatic deflection Proc Roy Soc; "British Association" Sheffield 1879 Crookes newspaper; Crookes "radiant matter" Tesla; Crookes "ultra-gaseous"; "Rayonnement de la matière" Crookes 1880 (French translation); "strahlende Materie" Crookes 1879 (German translation, Gretschel); Crookes Stokes correspondence Cambridge University Library Add.7656; Johnstone Stoney Phil. Mag. vol. 36 p.141 (the molecule-count source the lecture cites).

Files to download (owner approval needed; none downloaded)

  • Stokes referee reports RR/8/151 and RR/8/152 (PDF download on each item page, Royal Society archive, 2 pages each).
  • Bakerian Lecture 1879 (32 pp.), GMU course PDF at prubin.physics.gmu.edu (full path to capture), or archive.org philtrans06253890.
  • archive.org philtrans07220971 ("Contributions to Molecular Physics in High Vacua ... Magnetic Rotation ... Phosphorogenic Properties", 1879).
  • archive.org puluj-4th-state-of-matter (English Puluj, Electrotherapy Museum upload, 2021).

Leads for review

1. The inventor's own work

  • Bakerian Lecture, "On the illumination of lines of molecular pressure, and the trajectory of molecules", read Dec 1878, Phil. Trans. 170 (1879) 135-164, DOI 10.1098/rstl.1879.0065; and "Contributions to molecular physics in high vacua. Magnetic deflection of molecular trajectory. Laws of magnetic rotation in high and low vacua. Phosphorogenic properties of molecular discharge", Phil. Trans. 1879 Part II (abstract Proc. R. Soc. 28, 477, received 27 Mar 1879). Free on archive.org and on a GMU course page [web]. Bears on all claims, especially 2 (dark space = mean free path), 3 (magnetic deflection; the "laws of magnetic rotation" the lecture says it would be of "great interest" to find [read: deep read section 4]) and 6 (pressures).
  • Earlier and later papers in the same series: "On Electrical Insulation in High Vacua" (1878); "On Discontinuous Phosphorescent Spectra in High Vacua" (1881); Bakerian Lecture 1883 "On Radiant Matter Spectroscopy" and its sequels to 1887 [web] archive.org. Bear on claim 4 (characteristic phosphorescence; the ruby line) and show the method carried on as a tool of rare-earth analysis.
  • Crookes laboratory notebooks, Science Museum MS/0410: vol. 5 (1 Jan 1878 - 4 May 1881, experiments 1335-1646) and vol. 2 (Apr 1877 - Mar 1880, with notes for the Dublin and Sheffield lectures). Currently unavailable because they "register slight radiation" [web]. The working record behind every number in the lecture (pumps, pressures, gases, failures). Bears on claims 1-6.
  • Crookes's later reinterpretation, quoted in his obituaries: "What I then called 'Radiant Matter' now passes as 'Electrons,' a term coined by Dr. Johnstone Stoney" [web] Dyer 1920, J. Chem. Soc. obituary (pubs.rsc.org); Royal Society obituary notice (JSTOR). The original place and date were not found yet (Buchwald and Warwick, "Histories of the Electron", link it to his presidential addresses). Bears on claim 4 (negatively electrified molecules) and claim 1 (what "radiant matter" is): the inventor himself later identified the stream with electrons.

2. Supporting information by others

  • G. G. Stokes, Royal Society referee, recommended both 1879 papers for Phil. Trans. (RR/8/151, RR/8/152); on the second he "sent some remarks to the author, including the suggestion of a further clarifying experiment" [web]. Contemporary expert reading; bears on claims 2, 3, 6. The 2-page reports are online as page images and should be read next run.
  • C. H. Gimingham's multiple-tube Sprengel pump (Royal Society paper 1876) gave the vacua [web: IET obituary extract; Chemistry World 2015]. Wikipedia gives Crookes's range as 10^-6 to 5 x 10^-8 atm, which matches the lecture's 1/1,000,000 and 1/20,000,000 atm [web; read]. Bears on claims 1 and 6 (that the stated pressures were reachable).
  • Modern reproduction: Harvard's demonstration paddle-wheel tube moves as Crookes described (40 kV, induction coil) [web]. Claim 5 (the effect is real today). The mechanism is a separate question (see priority 3).
  • Later tests of the negative charge (named in secondary sources, primary papers not yet obtained): Schuster's electrostatic deflection; Perrin 1895 charge collection; J. J. Thomson 1897 mass-to-charge about 1/2000 of hydrogen [web: Wikipedia; Busch 2023]. Bear on claim 4: they support "negatively electrified" and show the carriers are not gas molecules.
  • Hittorf 1869 (straight lines, glass fluorescence, shadows, treated as a negative current) and Goldstein 1876 (named "cathode rays", emission normal to the cathode, ether-wave interpretation, dispute with Crookes) [web: Busch 2023, PMC]. Bear on claim 3 (same observations reported earlier) and on the contemporary rival theory to claims 1 and 4.
  • Johann Puluj, "Strahlende Elektrodenmaterie und der sogenannte vierte Aggregatzustand" (Vienna 1883; papers 1880-1882): charged particles torn from the electrodes, not gas molecules; Busch reports that Puluj called Crookes's fourth state "transcendental" with an inclination towards spiritualism (that is Puluj's characterisation, as Busch reports it). English version on archive.org (puluj-4th-state-of-matter) [web]. Bears on claims 1 and 4.
  • Starke 1900 (Ann. Phys. 3, 101-107) experiments and Thomson 1903 (Conduction of Electricity Through Gases, p.501) calculation: the paddle-wheel force is mostly radiometric heating, not momentum [web: Harvard]. Bears on claim 5 (mechanism). Crookes's own hot-platinum-ring demonstration, where heating alone spins the vanes [read], bears on the same question.
  • Plasma physics: modern sources (Wikipedia "Plasma (physics)", plasmas.org, plasma-universe.com) name Crookes's 1879 "fourth state" as the first identification of plasma; Langmuir coined "plasma" in 1928 [web]. Bears on claim 1. Reviewers should compare Crookes's own definition (collisionless neutral-gas regime, mean free path about the size of the vessel [read]) with the modern one (ionised gas).
  • Theosophy: Blavatsky took Crookes's radiant matter as evidence of more refined states of matter (Theosophy Wiki snippet; archive.org talks by Boris de Zirkoff 1974 and Ralph Hannon 1983) [web]. This is reception outside science; bears on claim 1 and on the lecture's closing "border-land where matter and force seem to merge" [read].
  • Cromwell Varley (1871) is an earlier British supporter of the particle view [web: Notes Rec. 2006 snippet; Wikipedia].

4. The historical record

  • Royal Society referee reports RR/8/151-152 (above).
  • IET Archives SC MSS 285, Gimingham brothers' papers, including Charles's ledger 1878 - July 1881 [web]. May document apparatus building for Crookes.
  • Science Museum MS/0410 notebooks and surviving Crookes tubes, including "Crookes' Tube Showing how Cathode Rays Illuminate Rubies, 1878-1888" [web].
  • Histories: Woodruff, "William Crookes and the Radiometer", Isis 1966; DeKosky, "William Crookes and the quest for absolute vacuum in the 1870s", 1983; H. Gay, "Invisible resource: William Crookes and his circle of support, 1871-81", BJHS 29 (1996) 311-336; H. Gay, History of Science 41 (2003), a London diary 1871-85; "Technical assistance in the world of London science, 1850-1900", Notes Rec. R. Soc. 62 (2008) [web]. The places to look for how the lecture was received and who built what.
  • Discrepancies to resolve: (a) Busch 2023 quotes a photographic-plate fogging remark as from the 1879 lecture; it is not in the project's copy [read: deep read]. (b) Wikipedia credits the hinged-cross tube to Plücker 1869; the lecture credits Gimingham's construction, and Plücker died in 1868 [memory, high]. (c) Gimingham's years with Crookes: about 1869-July 1881 (IET obituary extract) vs 1870-1882 (taminglightning.net PDF).
  • Absence of evidence: none found in this run. Crookes's radiant-matter work continued in print (spectroscopy papers to 1887; his later "electrons" statement). The only record that is hard to reach is the notebooks, and the catalogue gives the reason (radiation).