The Van Buren press., 1896-02-22
THE SUMS CARBON.
Its E5b and Flow the Surface Of this
Great Luminary.

Great Iumilary.
Even at the risk of telling what
every schoolboy ought to know, | will
say that carbon is one of the common.
est as well as one of the most remark
able substances in nature. A lump OF
coke only differs from piece of ear
bon by the ash which the coke leaves
behind when burned. As charcoal is
almost entirely carbon, so wood is
largely composed Of this same element
Carbon is indeed present everywhere
In various forms carbon is in the earth
beneath our feet and in The air which
we breathe. This substance courses
with the blood through our veins; il
is by carbon that the heat of the body
is sustained; and the same element
is intimately associated with life il
every phase.
Nor is the presence of carbon mere
ly confined to this earth. We know il
abouuds on other bodies i'll space. II
has been known to be eminently char
acteristic of the composition of com
cts. Carbon is not only intimately as
soeiated with articles of daily utility
and of plenteous abundance, but witt
the most exquisite gems of ''purest ray
serene" More precious than gold, more
precious than rubies. the diamond it
self is no more than the same element
in crystalline form. Bat the great
est of all the functions of carbon in the
universe has yet to be mentioned, This
same wonderful element has been
shown to be in all probability the ma
| terial which constitutes hose glowing
solar clouds to whose kindly radiation
our very life owes IFS origin
There is no known metal, and per
haps no substance whate {er, which de
mands so high temperature to fuse il
as does the element of carbon. a fila
ment of carbon alone will remain un
fused and unbrolInn when heated by
| the electric current 10 the dazzling bril-
| lance necessary for effective illumina
tion. This is the reason why this
particular element is indispensable
for our incandescent electric lamps
Modern research has new taught
us that, just AS the electrician
mas to employ carbon as the
immediate agent in producing the
/ brightest of artificial lights dowr
/ here. so the sun in heaven uses precise
/ ly the same element as the immediat,
agent in the production of its tran
scendent light and heat. Owing to tn,
extraordinary feryor which prevails
in the interior parts of the sun, al
substances there present, no matter
how difficult we may find their fusion
would have to submit to be melted
nay even to be driven off into vapor
If submitted to the heat of this appall
ing solar furnace, an iron poker, for in
stance, would vanish into invisible
vapor.
We can now understand what hap
pens as the buoyant carbon vapor
soar upwards through the suns atlnos
pheT'e. They attain at last to an ele
vation where the fearful intensity o
the solar heat has so far abated that
though nearly all rther elements ma,
still remain entirely gaseous, yet tn,
exceptionally refractory carbon begin
to return to the liquid state, At Ia
first stage in this return, the carbon
vapor conducts itself just AS does tn
ascending water vapor from the cart
when about to be transformed into al
invisible cloud. Under the infuenc
of a chill the carbon vapor collect
into myriad host of little beads o
liquid. Each of these drops of liqui
carbon in the glorious solar clouds ha
a temperature and a corresponding ra
diance vastly exceeding that with whc
the filament glows IN the incandescen
electcic lamp. When we remember fun
ther that the entire surface of our IL
minary is coated with these clouds
every particle of Which is thus intense
ly luminous, we need no longer wonde
at that dazzling brillianoe which, eve
across the awful gulf of o., 600, ,000 milei
produces for us the indest ribable glor
of daylight.-Sir Robert Ball, in Ne
Clure's Magazine.