Morning journal and courier., 1891-04-06


 oxygen-molecules alone"
 That is to say, the oXygen-moleculesf fly
 at the coal, and pick off its atoms, one at
 time, each molecule of oxygen picking
 off and swallowing, and carrying away, | single atom of carbon. This action of the | oxygen molecules is the largest and most | important fact in nature, if we go on | from one example of it to consider all that
 results from the state of intense activity of | the oxygen. This state of active move | ment probably means an electrically l charged molecule, flying round in an orbit
 and on an axis; and electrically chargedn | probably means a vortex of condensed ether in state Of motion of the utmost conceivable intensity. Whatever it means, the xygen-molecule Is beyond all imagina- ton active, and the cause of activity for
 every form of production of fire and
 maintenance of lite, as also for the mak
 ing of the bulk of the materials of the
 globe, (water and rock) which are oxygen
 in union with hydrogen, silica, &c. In
 the case of oxygen attacking coal and eat
 ing away it's carbon atom by atom, Cooke
 goes on to say of the work of the oxygen molecules:
 "And since the number of these mole cules which can reach the combustible in a
 given time is limited by the extent of it's
 surface, it is evident that with these Jumps
 of coal we cannot expect very rapid burn
 ing even in pure oxygen. If, however, l
 sift some finely-pulverized charcoal, al
 ready ignited by heating in an iron spoon l over a spirit-lamp, into jar filled with
 oxygen, nothing we have yet seen exceeds | the splendor of the action which results. This dazzling light is radiated by the | glowing particles of charcoal, which, after | they have become incandescent, retain
 their solid condition until the last atom of | carbon is consumed"
 l This means, as we have already seen,
 that the oxygen-molecules have consumed
 the carbon atoms, and have done it by | flying at them, seizing them and swallow l ing them, an atom of passive carbon being
 seized and swallowed by the two-atom
 molecule of oxygen. It also means that 1 the energy of the oxygen, as it picks off
 the atoms of carbon, is such as to raise | the speck or mass of carbon, from which | the atom is taken, to a white heat. The | storm of oxygen-molecules on the carbon | mass has the same effect as the current of
 electricity, and there is vast world of ev | idence to make it as probable as almost | anything we most surely believe, that the
 oxygen molecules thus raise the carbon
 mass to the state of light giving incsndes-
 cence, by means of the electricity which
 their onset discharges upon the carbon. | The opinion that the oxygen-molecules | carry an enormous charge of electricity, | a whirlpool of essential fire enclosing the | center or nucleus core of the molecule,
 was held by Faraday, and has been reas- | serted by HelmholtZ. No man with q | competent faculty of thinking in philoso-
 phy, and an adequate view of the facts,
 can come to any other conclusion, or es-
 cape coming to this. And it is most i'm
 portant to observe that the oxygen-mole
 cules act at no matter how short range,
 and act, not by going out of their way for
 it, or by being drawn to it, but merely by | hitting in the regular course of the mo
 tion which belongs to them. They are in | motion by electrical endowment. Their
 motion is at the foundation of the natural
 history of creation. The only dependence
 their motion has is that of the electric en-
 ergy of the sun, but how much this means
 is question. In the case of the carbon
 ized oxygen molecules, which tear their
 way into the leaves of plants, and then,
 under the sums ray, tear out again, leav-
 ing behind the carbon atom, and going off
 as pure oxygen, there can be no doubt
 that the electrical effect of the suns ray,
 playing on the oxygen -molecule, so in | creases it's electrical charge, and state of
 motion, as to cause it to let go the carbon
 atom and fly off into the air, fresh oxy-
 en-molecule, with an empty stomach, fierce for another carbon atom, at the first
 chance of candle flame or other fire. It
 should give some idea of what an oxygen
 molecule is, to consider that our most ter rife fires mean nothing more than oxygen, molecules capturing carbon atoms, each
 single molecule doing no more than seizine and going off with one carbon atom. Al
 the work of our fires is from the inciden. tai throwing off of energy by the oxygen of combustion. The tremendous charac ter of the incident is due to the fact that the energy thrown off by the oxygen i. electrical The main thing effected by what we call burning is consumption o carbon, or hydrogen, or other fuel atoms by oxygen. Cooke, in the last passage cited, goes on to say of the atmosphere O @ carbonized oxygen produced by burnin: charcoal in pure oxygen:
 l. 'I will ask you to notice the fact tha + the atmosphere within the jar remains a transparent as before. The eye can detec @ Ro evidence of change, yet all the char + coal that has disappeared has been takel l. up by this atmosphere, and, could W j. readily weigh the mass of gas, I coul $ show you that the weight had been in e creased by the exact weight of the coa e absorbed. Indeed, the density has bee n so greatly enhanced that I can pour tn y gas from one vessel to another very muc e as I would water"
 o The refinement of the action of the o, } ygen in picking black lump of coal { n pieces, is notably shown by the fact ths y the carbon of the coal is made invisibl, IS The carbon is reduced to single atoms, an l. each single atom whirled away in the en c. brace of an oxygen molecule. We ma IT see what bulk and weight are involved Ia we consider that when three hundred tor g. of the carbon of coal appear to be burne le mp, the whole is in fact merely picked of a. atom by atom, by eight hundred tons r. oxygen, which become swollen in weigl le to eleven hundred tons, yet go flying aboI e, with reduced but yet still abundant yigC W of movement.
 to How entirely the oxygen-molecules ei at up the carbon atoms is shown by fact ( pr which Cooke says:
 at ''The volume of the carbonic dioxide ol m tained is exactly equal to the volume Ss the oxygen gas employed. We used ia Id fnl of oxygen and we obtained a jarful a carbonic dioxide. The material of Il D. burnt charcoal is taken up into the OK
 genl gas atom by atom, actually absorbt nc by it as a sponge absorbs water. Ever h. molecule of oxygen which strikes again lg the charcoal flies off with an atom of ca ', bon, forming with it the molecule of ca O. bonic dioxide which occupies the san a space as the previous molecule of oxyge H. The vast amount of carbon which is beiI he constantly absorbed by the oxygen of th he mosphere-hundreds of tons every d. 'n this enormous black mass is absorbed re the transparent [oxygen of thel air, pick, st up and carried away bodily, atom n, atom, by the oxygen molecules" X And speaking of candle-fame, IT. which both carbon and hydrogen appe ue as fuel. Cooke says:
 y. "You must picture to yourselves il ke molecules of oxygen of our atmosphe Is rushing in on this candle-fame from ey al, " side, each one seizing its atom of ca of bon, or its four atoms of hydrogen, as Il rb case may be-"
 is hs And with reference to the burning Ut coal Cooke further says:
 ''In the union of the oxygen with il is carbon, each molecule of oxygen actual al; picks up an atom of carbon to form nd molecuIe of carbonic dioxide. There ar of therefore, just many molecules in u lat jar [of oxygen at the close of the expel ne ment as at the first, only they now eonsi l." of three atoms instead of two: GO on become O-C-O."
 en With this view of the physics of col 'm bustion, the active character of the OK 'l. gen of combustion, and of respiratio ng can be very clearly made out. We s ry how the carbon is wholly passive, and t |