"We do not use them all on every sample," said Velikof. "One could hardly measure the dielectric constant of a block of radiosilver, for instance."
"But silver—like all metals—still has a dielectric constant."
"Of course. And a block of copper has an index of refraction. These are scientific measurements and concepts and not practical for this purpose; here we work in the concrete and not the abstract."
Mangler shrugged. The next bits of equipment he recognized; one was a counting-rate meter that had the nameplate of a popular manufacturer of scientific equipment. Next to it was a portable Geiger counter, which had the inventory-plate of General Atomic Research screwed to the panel.
"That's here on lend-lease," said Newton cheerfully.
Mangler nodded again. From what he could see, Velikof's equipment was beyond reproach. Used under the eyes of Newton, nothing short of a hidden cyclotron could create a false impression of radioactivity in an inert sample. Used in front of Mangler, not even a hidden cyclotron could be used to falsify any evidence.
But it was the final item on the board that interested Mangler. It was a small, leatherette-covered case with a suitcase handle on one side. It had a panel across the face which was covered with dials etched in Russian characters. Below the characters indicating the function of the several dials, someone (either Velikof or Newton) had used a grease-pencil to letter in the English equivalent, of mass, of volume, of the various factors that are the measurements of matter. And the bottom row of dials could be set to the activity-constant of radioactive emanations, alpha, beta, and gamma.
The case came open in the middle; this control panel and its insides filled one half of the split case. The other half was open behind it, and it was obvious that the equipment standing next to the control panel fitted neatly into the open half of the carrying case.
The base of this equipment was a larger cylinder made up of an electromagnet. The core was laminated, the ends of the laminations showed across the flat dome of the cylinder. The coil of wire came up even with the top of the laminations so that little of the surface of the cylinder could be seen. The bottom was a flat circle of metal large enough to extend beyond the coil; it made a neat base. Rising from the metal base were three metal struts that passed up (almost touching the outside of the electromagnet) to a superstructure above the flat face of the laminated core of the magnet. It was obvious that the sample would rest on this flat face.