| 释义 |
† radiobe Obs.|ˈreɪdɪəʊb|
[f. radio- 3 + -obe, after microbe.]
A cell-like body observed to form in large numbers in gelatin solutions in the presence of radium salts, which was formerly claimed to be a living organism owing its existence to radioactivity.
1905J. B. Burke in Nature 25 May 79/2 As these bodies cannot be identified with microbes, on the one hand, nor with crystals on the other, I have ventured..to give them a new name, Radiobes, which might..be more appropriate as indicating their resemblance to microbes, as well as their distinct nature and origin. 1905Daily Chron. 20 June 4/4 Tubes of bouillon containing radium and tubes without radium were stopped up with cotton-wool, subjected to a temperature far above the boiling point of water, under pressure, for half an hour. The control tubes which contained no radium were then watched, and ‘nothing happened’... But the surface of the beef-gelatine in the other tubes began to show a peculiar ‘growth’. This ‘growth’..was examined by a very high power of a microscope and found to consist of minute rounded objects which looked like bacteria... Like living cells they contain nuclei and these have been photographed through the microscope... They exhibited a property possessed by no crystals; a property possessed by living things alone... When they reach the maximum size already named, they subdivide... Mr. Burke calls them radiobes. 1908Encycl. Relig. & Ethics I. 26/1 Mr. Butler Burke inclines to the conclusion that they are organisms on the border lines between microbes and crystals, and, provisionally, he names them ‘radiobes’. 1920Punch 7 Jan. 7/2 Let scientists on various fronts Indulge in their atomic stunts, Or harness to our prams and punts The puissant radiobe. |