New-York tribune., 1895-10-07
wants to take out foreign patents. and offers TO
sell half-interes In the same TO any one furnish
ing the money needed to obtain them.
TERRESTRIAL HELIUM.

IFS GENUlNENEss PAST DouBT-EvlDENCE OF
ITS COMPOSITE CHARACTER.
The announcement by Professor Ramsay. OF Lon
don. last spring that ne had discovered in n ter
restrial mineral q substance giving the same spec
tru'n the substance called "helium and detected
up TO that time only In the and few stars.
was received with some scepticsm at first and, IN
spite OF much corroborative testimony from inde-
pendent sources. the English scientific weekly Nat
ure' continued for months to use an interrogation
mark. implying editorial doubt. after all headlines
referring to the matter. Perhaps the most serious
objection TO accepting the genuineness OF the sup
posed discovery raised early in May by Pre-
fessor Runge. OF Hanover. Germany. recognized
authority in spectroscopy This investigator de-
clared that he and associate had discovered that
the yellow line found In the spectrum orthe gas in
question was double. whereas the D3 line had al
ways been referred TO single line Rowland
whose tables OF wave-engths OF the solar spectrum
Is now almost universally accepted as the standard
so gives IT. Professor Runge. therefore, insisted
that until 1t proven that the true heum line
IS double, the identity of the new-found gas with
the peculiar constituent OF the suns chromospheric
layer could not he considered established
During the last summer. however. evidence has
been accumu.ating which removes all doubt on this
point Professor George E. Hale. of Chicago whose
labors In solar specroscopy have attracted world
wide attention. finds that the d line really is
double: and his measurements of the positions Of
the two components correspond with those made
by Professor Crookes. in England. in the spectrum
OF the terrestrial gas Professor Young. OF Prince
ton in a recent note to Nature declares that he
has not himself noticed the dupliclty of the line. in
his own chromospherc observations. but that his
sistant Taylor Reed, has done several occa-
sons. At the meeting OF the British Association
for the Advancement of Science. three four weeks
ago the president OF the chemical section Professor
Raphael MENDOZA, treats the main question as now
definitely settled, and pronounces important an Incl
dental problem raised BY recent study of the sub
ject
Almost Immediately after his first discovery OF
heium. Professor Ramsay suggested the possibility
that this gas and argon might both he composite
substances having one constituent in common.
Certain condolences between the spectra OF the
two warranted a suspicion OF this kind Now. Pro
fessor Iockyer has obtained from the mineral
broggerite helium giving not only the principal
line (5s759S, but also the line AL, which Young
cites as occurring In ;he spectrum OF the chro
But when Lockyer experiments with his terrestrial
gas these and other helium lines especially $3.50
act dissimar under change OF temperature III
stead Of all changing simultaneously in brilliancy
This In Lockycrs judgment, shows that the gas Is
not a single element, but mixture. NJ. Des-
solar spectroscopists. has siso discovered new
and strong line In terrestrial helium, at IF 20; ana
this actually corresponds with line which ne mas
found in argon. As yet the research has not been
pressed far enough be conclusive: but Ramsays
suspicion has already found partial confirmation.