Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1896-03-25
THE SUMS CARBON.
Its Ebb and Flow on the Surface of the
Great Luminary.

Its Ebb and Flow on the Surface of the
] Great Luminary.
Even at the risk of telling what
every schoolboy ought to know ]
will say that carbon is one of the
| commonest as we'll as 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. It has been known to be emf
nently characteristic of the compo-
sition of comets. Carbon is not on
~ intimately associated with arti-
Giles of daily utility and of plenteous
abundance, but with the most eX-
quisite gems of "purest ray serene. "
More precious than gold, more pre-
cious than rubies, the diamond it.
self is no more than the same 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 all
probability the material which con-
stitutes those glowing solar clouds
to whose kindly radiation our very
life owes its origin.
There is no known metal and per-
haps no substance whatever which
demands so high temperature to
fuse it as does the element carbon.
A flament of carbon-and fila
ment of carbon alone-Will remain
INFUSED and unbrOken when heated
by the electric current to the daZ-
zling brilliance 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
trioian 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 same element as the i'm
mediate agent in the production of
it's 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 have to sub
nit to be melted-nay, 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 the buoyant carbon vapors
soar upward through the suns at
mosphere. They attain at last to
an elevation where the fearful inten-
sity of the solar heat has so far
abated that, though nearly all other
elements may still remain entirely
gaseous, yet the exceptionally re-
fractory carbon begins to return to
the liquid state. At the first stage
in this return the carbon vapor con-
ducts itself just as does the ascend
ing watery vapor from the earth
when about to be transformed into
visible cloud. Under the influence
of a chill the carbon vapor collects
into myriad host of little beads of
liquid. Each of these drops of liq-
uid carbon in the glorious solar
clouds has temperature and cor
responding radiance vastly exceed
ing that with which the filament
glows in the incandescent electric
lamp. When we 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 brillianoe which,
even across the awful gulf of SO, O0O,-
900 miles, produces for us the indie
scribable glory of daylight. Mo
Clure's Magazine.
NhsEAp0n NnSs fnu