The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-11-22
ARGON AND HELIUAI.
Two Discoveries That Have Aston
ished the Scientific World.

4
world with the revelation of unlocked
| for facts have the fascinating interest
| of romance, as related by r. A Greg
DRY in the Fortnight Review. The
author points out that, as a rule. great
scientific discoveries are not made by
| intending the mind upon them.
Whittier an investigation will lead the
man of science knows not; his task is
to explore the realm of nature; what
ever road he takes is a road of know
ledge, and though. after devoting the
labors of a lifetime to a research, he
may find that a shorter road would
have given the amount of progress, he
| has the satisfaction that on his way
he opened UP many new fields of in
quiry. 1t is his task to accumulate
facts, and there is no telling what may
not prove of immense value to the
world.
These two great discoveries are cases
In point. Marvellous as they were,
| their ''practicaP' import could not be
! Immediately estimated, but now they
are extending the domain of know
ledge far into the mysteries of the re-
hottest space. These discoveries are,
respectively, the finding of "argon" as
new constituent of the atmosphere,
and the identification of helium as an
earthly substance. The discovery of
argon led to that of the second SUBJ
stance. AS a, result, chemists were
certainly a little disconnected that they
should so persistently have overlooked
one of the components of air, but their
embarrassment is to some extent re-
lieved by the knowledge that the as
Economical spectroscopist failed to
| recognize a gas which is now known to
be easily and copiously obtainable from
common minerals, though he had pro-
badly met with 1t in the laboratory
scores of times. The physicist has also
| been brought to see the depths of his
! ignorance on some points connected
with the kinetic theory of gases. so
that the whole world of physical
| science has been disturbed by the i'm
prlsonment and characteristics of the
Two gaseous prisoners lately arrested"
! The world is now familiar with the
fact that Lord Rayleigh was led to
discover argon by the observation that
nitrogen extracted from the atmos-
phere was about one-half per cent
| heavier than that obtained from vari-
Gus chemical compounds. Research
revealed that the greater weight of the
| former was due TO the new gas This
having been established, Professor
Ramsay, who was associated with
Lord Rayleigh in his discovery. ex-
perimented with nitrogen from various
sources, TO see if it might not be mixed
with argon or compounds of that sub
stance. In experimenting with Gle
velte, a rare Norwegian mineral, a
new gas, supposed to be nitrogen. was
given off. 1t had, however, only a
trace of nitrogen, and spectroscopic
analysis, conducted by Mr.. Crookes,
proved it to be helium-a result that,
to astronomists, is just as important
as the isolation of argon is to chemists
though the former was reached almost
| by accident. For helium, as it's name
implies, had hitherto been regarded as
an element only found existing in the
sun. 1t now proves to be fairly COM
mon on the earth, and has already
been found in connection with from Is
to 20 minerals. 1t is so easily ex-
tracted that spectroscopists are
tritie depressed at its belated discovery.
1t seems probable that it's spectrum
has been observed before, and the re-
markable discovery that lay within
reach was not made simply from that
natural tendency in the human mind
not to observe unrecorded facts; lust
as biologists had never thought of
connecting terminal moraines and SIM
liar formations with the work of gla-
ciers, although the evidences were
about them on all sides, and once per
ceived in connection with the glacial
theory, they saw them everywhere It
it pointed out that spectroscopists in
recent years have confined themselves
to celestial chemistry. The spectre
scope, it is predicted, will take a more
prominent part in chemical analysis
of the future.
These two discoveries have already
furnished astronomy with number of
valuable facts Among these is the
detection of evidences of helium in the
light of nebulae. Professor Lockeye. as
result Of inv ie-af 70 ,;oL7
he has been led by these discoveries,
holds that we are in the presence of
a new order of gases of the highest
Importance to celestial chemistry,
though perhaps of small value to chem
lists, because their compounds and as
ISOLATED elements are, for the most
part, hidden deep in the earths inter-
ior. The alIusion to the gases proba-
bly, contained in the heavier minerals
is very suggestive, and in the future
study of these gases is regarded as of
paramount Importance in connection
with questions of stellar evolution.
A striking experiment is that con-
Quoted with meteorite which proved to
contain the new gases. Professor Ram
say suggests that it was once part Of
a stellar body at a high temperature,
having an atmosphere in which hydro
gen, argon and helium existed with
other gases The two gases have al
ready raised some very nice points,
over which chemists, mathematician
and physicians may wrangle for some
time to come.
Two lines in the spectra of both ar
gon and helium appear to be exactly
coincident, and this indicates that
third new gas, not yet isolated, is COM
mon to both. Professor Ramsay re-
CARDS this as almost certain, and Pro-
fessor Lockyer hints at the existence
of several more. What all these ac-
tual and prospective new gases may
be good for remains to be seen. They
may prove of some great practical util-
ity in themselves, besides serving as
pathways into a tremendous unknown.
But. whatever the results of future
work, Mr.. Gregory declares ''since
spectrum analysis became an accom-
plished fact, no new elements have held
out greater promise of assistance in IN
travelling mysteries of celestial consti-
tutions than argon and heffum, and
the gases which are associated with
them"
AN ITALIAN THIEF'S SHREWDNEss.
An Italian newspaper is responsible
for the following tale of a thief's
shrewdness: A certain lazzarone once
came to confess himself to a. mission
arxy ,,riaet 1yho vvac confined to his he'd