Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1879-01-07
TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1879.
The Scientific Progress of the
Year.

lNoliNCNo NiiA ItlfAA lNuiFl huIlC VI IHOus
em tines, No future chance or
change in human events can rob this
passing year Of the glory Of being one
al the great epoch making crisis in
mans knowledge Of nature-a Prone
them moment richly iraught with
1.-THE Wonders that shall be-" Tue
mavels Of the present, the axloms Of
the coming hour. In no other seas
Of human activity is it truer than in
the deepest CUFFS Of physical sJecula> :
ti0n that "there is tide in the af-
fairs Of men" Every really great
discovery is reached almost slmulta.
neously by Isolated workers separated
by thousands OF miles. These ear.
nest searchers are so many athletes
swiftly speeding towards common
goal, which the most fortunate gains
blt moment before the slowest of
his competitors,
At the very outset of the present
year the world Of science WAS Assem-
bIcd on the judges stand, counting
seconds in the race between Piclet
and Cailletet for liquefying the last
Of the gases, and thus experimental
ly proving the unity of nature and the
continuity between the solid, hqud
.and gaseous domains OaiIetet scor-
ed the first round by liquelying oxy
oau aud ~, ,h,rto ,v,Ia a., n.,1,, -.
December 2, 1877, but being then n
candidate for election to a seat in
the Academy Of Sciences he magnan>
imOuSly RETAINED from announcing
his success and consigned the ac.
count of his discovery to sealed
packet, which was opened at the aca>
demlc session of December "a.
Strange to relate, NJ Raoul Pictet,
Of Geneva, announced by le;Ier at
that meeting the snme result achiev,
ed by entirely different process.
Scarcely had tie wondering sevans
found time TO announce to the public
this double triumph when NJ. Calle-
tct, on the last day Of the year. ac-
c0mpIshed the liqueidctiOn of hydro
gen, nitrogen and atmospheric air
and pressing closely upon him, NJ
Pictot swept to Che goal January II,
definitely establishing the sequence
Of the "con,lauce Of nature" by the
solidifcation Of hydrogen. 1t was
found to be n metal, thereby brill.
iantly justiiying the conclusion first
reached forty years ogo by the veter-
an chemist, j. B Dumas, who had
the honor, ns president Of a leading
scientific society, to receive the first
telegraphic announcement from NJ
Plctet, and to make known to his as.
sociales at Paris this grand discovery
ON the yety day it was made at Gem
eva
Results such as these would suffice
to make the year 1873 memorable in
the annals OF science, but only the
first page had been written. In the
same month Of December 1878,
when CailIetct ntd Piclet were wins
ming their FIRST aureIs in Paris
aud Geneva, Thomas Alva Edison
rode into New York one morning
from Menlo Park with a queer brass
cylinder under his arm, and aston
lshcd our ueighbon Of the Scientific
Antericou, with the hrn2en -lnced as
scrlou thar MARY hqd u IItllc lamb.
The photograph bnd sprung, unher'
aided, upon the world, md so iucred>
ible was the scientific inct thus re,
yoacd that several weeks elapsed be-
fore it was generally credited, Al
though the lull-nedgcd discovery OF
the phouogruph pertains to 1871, the
Whole of IT'S development and It's
world vide rcuoNn belong TO 1878,
and ii is as,utcdly not The least Of is
many ttles to perpetual remem
brancc that "the Wizard of Meulo
Park then Grst assumed recoguiz-
ed position Ms factor IN our coming
@eitf1izaiion, OF Edisons other man,
iiold aud curious inycntiOns--iht
megaphonc, the phouom0tor, aud
n the aelophonc-- we have no need
now to spcnk, though N other times
they would rauk high among the Gu
rositics Of science But there are
threc other achievements Of his gen
ms which distinctly call for mention
among the wonders OF the ycur-.thr
Improved Carbon telephone, the las-
imclcf and the electric lamp more
than one of which were first fully de,
scrlbcd In the columns of he HERS
laid. Other workers have recently
|hs,tbrd their names upon Famo's
t.Iclnnl bcud-'ull with similar titles,
.nnd it would be- unjust not to tecog-
hzc The great merit OF our country
IImn Professor llughs IN the dseov-
ory Of the mlcrophouf, OF Mr. Stearns
In "duplcxIug' The Atlantic cable
of proiosso, A0cd NJ Mayer IN his
Illustrations 6l he atuuic theory
by nculng magteis Of Sir. D. u
lloakci mud Paul Bert IN their dis,
ce,eries IN vegetable chemistry, OF
Count Dn Monccl IN his ingenious
development ofo phouorrnpb tto a
depsie,n chonh0h of lewis SWIM
md prolessur Watson IN their decov'
cr Of ,nom Me,curul planets, OF
p,pltssci l.etontc in his discovery OF
a urw clemcnt oi Professors New
londa Wilde and others IN thor ,n
relious cpstlieations Of the elements
br neri6tio laws, mud of lnn'ir, RAJ
pluA, Jabochkoil. Werdormann, Saw
u -. - -. j.. llAnII Inn