As the bearer of these lines, to whom I graciously ask you to listen, will explain to you in more detail, how because of the "wrong" statistics on the N and ⁶Li nuclei and the continuous beta spectrum, I have hit upon a desperate remedy to save the "exchange theorem" of statistics and the law of conservation of energy. namely, the possibility that there could exist in the nuclei electrically neutral particles, that I wish to call neutrons¹, which have spin 1/2 and obey the exclusion principle, and which further differ from light quanta in that they do not travel with the velocity of light. The mass of the neutrons should be of the same order of magnitude as the electron mass and in any event not larger than 0.01 proton masses. The continuous beta spectrum would then become understandable by the assumption that in beta decay a neutron is emitted in addition to the electron such thatthe sum of the energies of the neutron and the electron is constant...

I agree that my remedy could seem incredible because one should have seen these neutrons much earlier if they really do exist. But only the one who dare can win and the difficult situation, due to the continuous structure of the beta spectrum, is lighted by a remark of my honored predecessor, Mr. Debye, who told me recently in Bruxelles; "Oh, it's well better not to think about all this, like new taxes". From now on, every solution to the issue must be discussed. Thus dear radioactive people, look and judge.