Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1870-05-19
InYisfbiiity Of Light.

InVisTbiIity Of Light.
WE are permitted to publish the follow
ing interesting extract from the paper
read a few evenings ago by Richard VIII
liams, Esq before the Buffalo Society of
Natural Sciences s-.f-r.z fa ~...
A friend recently handed me q, file of
English papers containinga a partial report
of a lecture or lectures recently delivered
before the Royal Institute by Professor
Tyndall, and announcing what Lseemed to
me an. important discovery. No account
of these lectures having as yet appeared
in our own papers or journals, I have
thought slight abstract from them, with
few observations Of my own might be
interesting and instructive -s7.
The discovery announced by Prof Tyn-
dali is, that paradoxical as IT, may seem,
light itself is a perfectly invisible thing /"
1t seems that Tyndall, In his experiments
on the decomposition of vapors by light,
was much troubled by the dancing NOTES
or dust which we hayeall seen occasions
ally when a small body of light is let into
a partially darkened room. These NOTES
he found were both organic and morgan
ic; he was much troubled in his endeav-
ors to get rid of them, and after trying to
do. so unsuccessfully, by passing the air
through caustic potash and suiphuric acid,
perfectly pure by burning them out. He
then showed by various experiments that
light would not pass through perfectly
pure air, and proved conclusively that the
thing we call light is absolutely without
witness of itself except it has something
to strike upon to reflect or fill with the
mysterious and subtle life of illumination.
One of the methods by which he proved
this was flower shade with hydrogen
gas, or a glass tube with common air free
from those NOTES. On passing rays of
light through these vessels, or intercept
ing the rays, they became perfectly dark
in the vessel and light again upon emerg-
ing from the other side. Another way OF
showing it was to cover his mouth and
nostrils with thick batting of cotton
wool The notes were caught in the
lungs and cotton, and the exhAled breath
instantly abolished the light in its path.
Verify, the Bible and science are not at
war here, for we are told that The light
shineth in. darkness and the darkness
comprehended it not IAN exact descrip-
ton of this physical phenomenon.
One would naturally infer from the
multitude of stars we see in the heavens,
every one of which is sun like our own,
that the universe would be filed with
light but it is not so. and it is certain
that the orbs of heaven, guided by a Hand
that needs no light, wheel in their ap,
pointed paths amidst the most profound
and inconceivable darkness. This discov-
cry of Tyndall may explain the mystery
of the darkness of the great stellar spaces
which the astronomers have heretofore
been unable to account for. In reading
the history of scientific truths, one is con-
stantly surprised at the important parts
mere chance has playe in their advance
ment. The means of measuring the in
conceivable velocity of light problem
which Newton was unable to solve, were
discovered by accident, and often, in
searching after trifles we stumble upon
facts of the greatest value. This discovery
of TyndalPs is striking illuStration of this
truth, and of that constant revolution of
knowledge from knowledge ever going on;
it; is full of significance, opening, as 1t
does, a vast field for inquiry, and maybe
of the greatest practical value to- man
kind. Tyndall also showed that iron,
when heated only to the temperature of
boiling water, partially burnt up these
notes. A French chemist recently an
nounced that one of the most poisonous
of the gases emitted in the combustion of
coal went through red hot iron as easily
as water does through sieve; we know
that in the best constructed furnaces
there is always more or less leakage of
gas which is imperceptible to the senses,
and that, Notwithstanding every one re-
cognises the fact that Easements are not
healthy places to live and sleep in, we
take air from its lowest strata on the
earth's surface, and from. cellars
to warm our houses. These facts
may go far toward explaining the
alleged unhealthiness of hot air furnaces.
The air filed with these notes we are
constantly passing through our lungs.
One of the scientific men of Europe, years
ago, asserted that when a decoctiont OF
meat was shut off from common air, and
only exposed to that which had been
raised to a high temperature, putrefaction
never sets in-thus showing that some
thing more than oxygen of the air was
needed in the process of destruction and
decay. A lady now in the city (Bufalo),
who was living in Texas few years since,
at place where the yellow fever ragged
with great violence, and where the air is
so pure and dry that ordinarily, in the
hottest weather, frefh beef never spoiled,
but dried up-making the "jerked bee" !"
of the Spaniards-informs me that for a
few days before the fever broke out, their
fresh meat spoiled in a few hours, and
before the animal was fairly cold. Mala-
| rious and infectious diseases, and the hay
fever, have long been supposed to be
owing to germs in the air. Surgeons IN
hospitals are careful not to allow wounds
to be exposed to the air for fear of gan
creme. we KNOW now Lnl5 class OF OlS
eases is propogated by clothes, hides, etc.
and it may be that whilst pure air would
not carry along these infectious germs
these notes act as kind of raft to foa
them from place to place, and this fac
demonstrated might give us the means o.
stopping to some extent at least the spread
of infectious and epidemic diseases.-BlJ
tdLO Hgpress. Fi' .. 10 ...-rJ
In an English trial for breach ofpromise
of marriage, lately, a letter was read from