Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-02-15
PHOToGRAPHING THE AIR.
DIR. Kidder Shows Some of the Monsters
that Dwell init.

DIR. Kidder Shows Some of the Monsters
that Dwell init.
Az INTERESTING TALK BEFORE THE CHEMICAL
socIErY-THE CONSTITUENTS OF THE ARES
sESIIAL TO ALL ORGANIC LIFE-fT CAUSES ALL
WEATHER PHENOMENA
The subject will be Air" was the announce
ment OF the annual address of DIR. J. II. Kid
der, the retiring president of the Wash
ington Chemical society, at the Cosmos
Club Assembly hall last night. There was
good-sized audience of scientists and
semi-scientists in the hall when DIR. Kidder
began TO give his opinions about the atmos-
phere. 1t was appropriate, he said, on the day
hallowed to the memory Of st. Valentine to
talk of trihe so light air, and yet he con-
siderei that air is not such light and trivial
thing after all-it is rather the reverse. When
we consider that besides the need of clothes
and shelter, which are not absolutely es-
sential to existence, we should remember that
the two elements necessary to life are food and
air. One NAV live several weeks without any
food, except water; men have lived for forty
days-the biblical period of fasting-with
nothing but water to sustain them. Cases have
been known of shipwrecked mariners living
six or seven days without either food or water.
eral remarkable instances recorded of re-
suscitation of persons one hour after apparent
drowning, it is true that the ordinary stoppage
of breath for fifteen minutes will prove fatal
Air Is absolutely essential to the continuance
of life, not only to animal life, but to vegeta-
bic life well. 1t is the cause of the presence
of water on the earth, and also of the phenom-
ena of weather, heat, and cold.
THE CONSTITUENTS OF AIR.
Air is composed of 20. Sc parts of oxygen, 70
parts of nitrogen, and 400 of part of carbon
di-oxide. mingled, but not chemically mixed
The relative quantity of these gases is the
same in the free air all over the world
whether on top of the highest mountains or in
the middle of the sea-
Air is supposed to affect the health of men
and animals in several different ways; by a
variation in the proportions of the oxygen and
nitrogen, by the variation of the amount of
carbOnic acid gas and water vapor. by contain
ing extraneous substances. nitrous acid, other
chemicals, various organisms, &c, and by
changes in its physical conditions of tempera-
ture and pressure. The skin and the lungs are
constantly throwing of matter into the air.
poisonous to health. We breathe out $50 times
rs much carbOnic acid gas we take into the
lungs. Ii has been frequently discussedwhether
or not this gas Is absolutely poisonous, but DIR.
kldder asserted that in his opinion it is never
found in room in which people live in such
quantities as to be dangerous; yet il is an indi-
cation of the amount of other deleterious mat
ter thrown off by the skin. The gas is disposed
of by the
RESPIRATION OF PLANTS.
The chemical properties of the coloring mat
ter of leaves assimilating great quantities of
carbon; also by the rainfall. the water dissolv-
ing about its own volume of gas.
The air below the surface of the earth. the
ground-air. as it is called is of entirely diff
ferent nature from that above the surface or
free air. The speaker said that in digging
around the site for the new observatory on the
TenieytOwn heights he had found air that con-
tanned $40 parts Of carbonic acid gas in 1000
Each house is a great chimney, conducting the
ground-air upward; it is always being taken
into the house, even asphalt pavements being
no protection. The Austrian government
spends thousands of dollars in conducting ex-
periments with and observing the nature of
orOund-alr. The foreign population of SYRIA
always have great dread OF the sirocco, a kind
of hot-wind storm that prevails in that part of
the world. 1t has bad effect both On their
health and tempers. and they shut themselves
in their houses to avoid it. When the floor of
the House of Representatives was taken up
some years ago Prof Henry, who con-
neeted with the renOvating work, said that the
chamber was
AN ARTIFICIAL SIROCCo,
the moisture was squeezed out of the air, and
1t was dry and hot. The air is like a sponge,
and low temperature outside of the house
quickly.
number of acknowledgements were thrown
on a screen by means of a powerful lantern, to
illustrate DIR. kidder's experiments, to deter
mine the foreign elements in the air They
were made, he explained. by allowing moisture
IN air to dry on exposed plates of glass. and
afterward photographing the slides. They
looked on the screen like pictures of the moons
surface, being covered with spots and marks
and lines which. DIR. Kidder said. were the
crystals of various chemical elements He
had recognized them all through certain ear
marks they POSSESSED. and gave their names
with a wonderful familiarity. One, he de-
clared, showed cholera traces; another hay
fever germs (Which looked like great mock
oranges); several bacilli, and one held a pic
ture of the shell of a sugar mite imprisoned in
q wee drop of moisture. One form greatly
resembled cuttle-fsh, but was merely a spore
from a red-oak tree. number of the slides
showed wierd forms of immense size which,
the lecturer said, were fungus growths that
had developed from spores caught In the mois-
ture. The lantern suddenly gave a sharp pop.
caused by the breaking of one of the Jets, and
the lecture came to an end.