Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-12-07
REMARKABLE DISCOVERY ANNOUNCED BY MR.
NORMAN LOCK YER.

A REMARKABLE DISCOVERY ANNOUNCED BY MR..
NORMAN LOCK YER.
From the London TELEGRAPH November 16
By the announcement which Mr.. Norman
LOckyer has just made to the Paris Academy of
sciences, to the effect that he believes he has
succeeded in realizing Faraday'S famous prOpil
ecy with regard to reducing the sO-called chem
zeal elements TO air, the prospect Of another
grand discovery is added to the series of extra
ordinary facts which have marked the scientific
annals OF the, present wear. NJ. Dumas the
venerable and accomplished French chemist,
was the medium through whom Mr.. Lockyer
conveyed these startling tidings The 60 odd
clements, OF which, according to the school
books now in use, all terrestrial matter
is composed, are in reality, 1t is said,
not elementary, but compound bodies. Sci
ence has been deceving itself with mere
Instead of 80 or 30 elements. the number NAV
be even less than the traditional four-earth,
air. fire and water-which held so long sway
from the Aristotelian period until the days of
Robert Boyle. In making the communication
to the Paris Academy, NJ. Dumas added that
the conclusion reached by Mr.. Lockyer was the
result OF three years aSsiduous research. Con-
sciOuS OF its extraordinary character and OF the
entirely new aspect when the discovery will
give to chemical science, Mr.. Locayer states
that he will send photographs and other details,
ed belief. In the meanwhile. our distinguished
sardnt has no hesitation in publicly disclosing
the SPECIFIC character of his discovery, which
has been accomplished by the use of the most
potent and magical of modern instruments of
analysis the spectroscope.
The honor OF achieving prOdigious analyti-
cal success, which, if verified, must ever be
memorable in the history Of molecular physics,
has for some years past been an object of siren
uOuS rivalry among a few Of our leading Scien-
tific workers. The eventual dissertation of the
S0-caed elements was confidently contem-
plated by Farady nearly thirty years ago, and
it is not too much to say that the expectations
entertained by that eminent man gave stimu-
lus for work In the laboratory which has never
been lost by those who were privileged to be
learners or fellow-labOreiS with him Since
Faraday's time, the whole question OF the phys
1cal constitution OF the universe. and eSpe-
clally the particular manner in which ere
alive power may have gradually elaborated
the present cosmical order Of things. has been
investigated with a ZeSt, and Ii may be added
with facilities for discovery, which have lent a
greatly increased interest and importance to in
qulrles into the elementary and primal forms of
matter. The apparently well-grOunded belief
that the heavens afford to the view of the as
tronOmer the process of world making in its va
nous stages has done much OF late years to en-
courage the particular branch of research
nary and valuable results. Mr.. LOckyer be-
IeveS that. in spite OF the multifOrm aspects of
the world in which we live, there is but one
form of matter which is truly elementary The
primal element Is presented to us in the shape
Of hydrogen. 1t is not little remarkable that
the nature of hydrogen should have been a
lists have recently been deyOting their en-
ergieS: II is now well known, thanks to
NJ PICKET and his French colleagues. that
hydrogen, In its gaseous form, can be
and has been, reduced to a liquid condition
Mr.. LOckyer himself has arrived, by means OF
the spectroscOpe, at the conclusion that hydro
gen can no longer be regarded as a simple ele-
lnent. Further, he believes he has proved that
hydrogen IS the one body OF which the various
metals and earthS that have hitherto cOnSti-
tuted the chemists catalogue of elements are
composed. SO novel and striking an interpreta-
ton OF all the phenomena of animate and inani-
mate nature OF all that we can see in the starry
depths around us, as well as on our own globe
Is dl1flcult at first Sight to entertain. That the
gle unit In the great cOsmcal laboratory should
be endowed with such PrOtean capacities OF
form. is conception which utterly eclpseS all
the world becomes infinitely more Wonderful
by Such revelations as nOs seem to be brought
within our grasp.