The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1896-02-07
THE SUMS CARBON.
ITS Ebb and Flow on the Surface Of tho
Great Luminnry.

Its Ebb and Flow on the Surface Of tho
ureat Luminary.
Even al the risk of telling what
every sohGolboy ought to know ]
will say that carbon is one of the
commonest as well ms one of the
most remarkable substances in ma
ture. A lump of coke only differs
from a piece of carbon by the ash
which the coke leaves behind when
burned. AS charcoal is almost en-
tirely carbon, so wood is largely
composed of this same element
Carbon is indeed present every
where. In various forms carbon is
In the earth beneath our feet and in
the air which we breathe. This sub
stance courses with the blood
through our veins. 1t is by carbon
that the heat of the body is sustain
ed, and the same element is init
mately associated with life in every
phase,
Nor is the presence of carbon
merely confined to this earth. We
know it abounds on other bodies in
space. 1t has been known to be emil
nently characteristic of the compo.
sition of comets. Carbon is not on
ly intimately associated with arti.
oles of daily utility and of plenteous
abundance, but with the most ex-
quisite gems of "purest ray serene. "
More precious than gold, more pro-
cious than rubies, tho diamond it.
self is no more than the samo ele-
ment in crystalline form. But the
greatest of all the functions of car
bon in the universe has yet to be
mentioned. This Same wonderful
element has been shown to be in n'all
probability the material which con-
stitutcs those glowing solar clouds
to whose kindly radiation our very
life owes its origin.
There is no known metal and per-
bnps no substance whatever which
demands So high a temperature to
fuse it as does the element carbon.
A filanient of carbon-and fla
ment of carbon alone--will remain
INFUSED and unbroken when heated
by the electric current to the daz-
zliDg brillianoe necessary for effect
i've illumination. This is the reason
why this particular element is so
indispensable for our incandescent
electric lamps. Modern research has
now taught us that just as the cleo
trician has to employ carbon as the
immediate agent in producing the
brightest of artificial lights down
here so the sun in heaven uses pre-
cisely the samo element as the i'm
mediate agent III the production OF
its transcendent light and heat.
Owing to the extraordinary fervor
which prevails in the interior parts
of the sun, all substances there pres
ent, no matter how difficult we may
find their fusion, would. haveto sub.
NIT TO be melted-pay, even to be
driven off into vapor. If submitted
to the heat of this appalling solar
furnace. an iron poker, for instance,
would vanish into invisible vapor.
We can now understand what hap
pens as tho buoyant caI bon vapors
soar upward through the suns at
mosphcre. They attain at Inst tc
an elevation where the fearful inten
sity of the solar heat has so fai
abated that. though nearly all Other
elements may still remain entirely
gaseous, yet the exceptionally re-
fractory carbon begins to return tc
the liquid state. AT the first stage
in this return tho carbon vapor con,
ducts itself just as does the ascend
ing watery yapor from tho earth
when abost to be transformed into
visible cloud. Under the influence
of chill tho carbon vapor collects
into a myriad host of little beads oi
liquid. Each of these drops of liz
uid carbon in tho glorious solai
clouds hast temperature and cor
responding radiance vastly exceed,
ing that with which the filament
glows in the incandoscent electric
lamp. When wo remember further
that the entire surface of our lumi
nary is coated with these clouds, ev
cry particle of which is thus intense
ly luminous, We need no longer won
der at that dazzling brilliance which
even across the awful gulf of 03, 900,
900 miles, produces for us tho inde
soribablo glory of daylight.-Mc
Clure's Magazine.
VIII be sold to certain points II
Alabama. Arizona, Oklahoma, AR
| =, lf.,., HN...rflaek. IE..nln,,lr a.