A Zeeman-quenching atomic-beam method has been utilized for the determination of the fine- and hyperfine-structure energies and auto-ionization lifetimes of the metastable
(1s2s2p)4PJ states of
Li6 and
Li7. Both the fine-structure intervals and the lifetimes of the
J=23 and
J=21 states are found to be in disagreement with existing theoretical calculations. The quenching of metastable lithium atoms in a nonuniform magnetic field can be satisfactorily described with the aid of the "adiabatic criterion." The present results also permit a quantitative evaluation of a proposal for producing polarized lithium nuclei.