The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-03-30
The MaNeIs of Motion.

/
II any one except a world-renownet
scientist had veatured TO assert genera
ton ago that the molecules OF metals (sucl
as gold. platinum, iron and so forth. in
stead Of being in contact with each othel
and at rest. are in reality separated by
spaces Of considerable magnitude as com
pared with the size OF the individual pard
cles OF matter; that these atoms are con
stantly flying about within the inferno
lecular space" hitting against each other
and that this constant clashing Of the mole
oules was even essential to the continued
existence Of such familiar matter, he would
have been looked upon askance, and pro
baby considered q lunatc. But this Is
precisely the modern theory OF matter
| stripped Of all vsrbiage and Of confusing
technicalities) which was put forth some
years ago at the Montreal meeting OF the
British Associations for the Advancement
OF Science by the great leader Of scientific
thought, Sir William Thompson, (now Lord
keivin); and this startling .heorem has
been constantly gaining in favor, until now
II may be considered the generally accept
ed doctrine Of chemical mechanics.
| Again, IL any one had said even a year
ago, without proving the fact, that the mo-
| lecuies not only v.brate within the confines
| OF the material itself, but actually wander
| on into space from the surface OF a piece
| Of gold metal, would he not have been
laughed att Yet the chief chemist of the
Royal mint. Professor Roberts-Austen. has
| actually proved this extraordinary state
| ment by a most startling experiment re-
Gently reported to the Royal Society in an
elaborate thesis upon the nature of metal
| alloys. The professor LAID a cylinder of
chemically pure lead upon a piece Of pure
gold. and he discovered. after the lapse of
| certain time, that some Of the gold mole
cules had actually wandered away from
the surface Of the gold ana Travelled up
through the lead and were discovered upon
or near the upper surface Of the cylinder
of lead. Prince Kroptokin in commenting
upon these and other modern metallurgical
Investigations. In an article upon Recent
Science" published in the Nineteenth Cen
fury February, ISsO, states that gases
having long been considered as consisting
Of inhunerable groups of molecules dash
ing about in all directions, hitting each
other, and that similar conception must
how be formed Of metals-that is, there is
mobility of molecules of metals; they never
cease to move about, within certain lin
its, and it is due to this mobility that new
combinations and new alloys are possible.
In further substantiaton of these theories
it has been found that two pieces of metal
can be so perfectly Joined together with
out melting by simple pressure that when
the piece is abain torn asunder by a power
full pulling apparatus 1t will often fracture
at a different place.
Again, 1t Is believed that certain solid
substances (such as musk radiate particles
from their surfaces at the ordinary tenn
perature Of the air, and that Il mankind
had been endowed with a more delicate
sense Of smell It would have been quite
possible to detect the presence of gold or of
other metals at considerable distance by
the olfactory nerves. Certain metals and
alloys (brass, for example) are readily de-
teoted by their odor.
investigations made In recent times by
Dletallurgists In widely different fields of re
search have all tended to corroborate the
theory of the mobility Of molecules Of me
tails. Thus moro than a year ago paper
was read at the annual meeting Of the
American Institute of Mining Engines on
the Mobility of Molecules of Cast Iron"
in which 1t was stated, as the result OF
more than Thousand tests, that cast iron
when subjected to repeated shocks or vi
brations gained in strength owing to a cers
tain re-arrangement Of its particles under
the influence of these slight blows. Tables
were appended of actual tests showing
gains In strength Of bars when subjected
to shock as compared with companion bars
not so treated, this increase ranging from
10 per cent to nearly 20 per cent. This
novel and surprising statement excited
wide attention at the time, and the tests
were very generally repeated by metallur-
gists connected with large iron manufactur-
ing establishments in this country and In
Europe These independent investigations
have not only corroDorated the foregoing
results but some of them have greatly sur
passed the original claims, more than one
investigator having published tables show
ing gains exceeding 10 per cent in strength
Of bars so treated, This investigation Is
doubly interesting from the fact that II has
q practical bearing upon the use OF cast
iron in places where II Is subjected to con-
tinued vibrations (Which were formerly
thought to be injurious II not dangerous
TO its stability, and on the theoretical side
It Is interesting as tending to corroborate
by experimental demonstration the verify
of the modern theory of the mobility OF
molecules Of matter.
Lord Kelvin In the famous Montreal ad-
dress alluded to IN the beginning Of this
article said. ut is scarcely possible to help
anticipating, IN idea, the arrival at a COM
plate theory of matter In which all its pro-
perties Will be seen TO be merely attributes
of motion" II Is, of course, difficult II not
impossible to fully and clearly elucidate n
a brief popular statement subject so ab-
struse IN character as this. which Is bound
I'D IN mathematical deductions and deals
with minute fractions of figures: but It is.
perhaps, possible by using simple words
and familiar Illustrations to give the intel
ligsnt reader little glimpse of the favor
able point Of observation from which the
scientist preceives, by the aid OF his more
actue mental visiol-a sort OF mind micro
scope-the transcendent processes eternally
operating IN natures workshop whereby
the most complex structures are evolved
from the most simple elements
The tendency OF modern research is 10
simplify natures laws-to show there in
innate correlation. even to point still fur
Their toward a complete unificauon or one
ness OF origfn-and Lord Kelvin's theory
that what we cau matter may be only the
rotating portions of something which fills
the whole OF space IS continually gaining
ground. The word motion" may be. there
fore. regarded as the key or open sesame
Of the modern scientist
Notes on Humanity.
A.1hfSo- (,f0heN