The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27
1T DEVOURS LIKE FIRE.
Strange and Beautiful Effects Pro-
duced by FIuorine
c. f. Townsend in knowledge.

c. f. Townsend in knowledge.
The alchemists of the middle ages be-
lieved that somewhere in the universe was
to be found a universal solvent which
would dissolve the most refractory sub
stances as readily as water dissolves SUI
gar. They named their solvent liquor aka
hest, and what time they could spare from
the search after the elixir of life and the
philosophers stone was spent in the en-
deaVor to obtain il. Science has vet to
prove, by the way, that there was not
more method in the madness of the al
chemists than is generally supposed. for in
the remarkable substance tourine chem
lists possess a material that approximates
very closely to a universal solvent. Its
chemical energy is so fierce that. except
gold and platinum, nothing can resist il:
and even gold and platinum succumb TO
tiourine in time. The mere contact of most
substances with fourine is sufficient to
cause, not mere solution, but light flame
and fierce detonations. Dull, inert flint
takes fire when exposed 20 flourine vapor
and becomes brilliant incandescent mass.
Lampblack bursts into flame, while char
coal burns with bright scintillations Only
the diamond is able to resists this power
full solvent, to which il does not succumb
element silicon, which can be obtained in
crystalline form closely resembling the
diamond gives a magnificent display In
the presence of fiourine, the crystals be-
coming white-hot and throwing showers of
nery spangles in all directions, The heat
is so intense that the crystals melt, show
ing that their temperature has reached l.
200 degrees cenhgrade. Phosphorus COM
blnes fiercely with flourine. Prussian blue,
on account of the cyanogen it contains,
burns with beautiful pink flame; while
from crystal of iodine placed in flourine
vapor a heavy liquid distils with a pale
flame. This liquid-an iodine of hourine-
etches glass, and if thrown into water
Kisses like hot iron. The last-named metal
becomes whitehot when exposed to -four
ine even iron rust behaves in a similar
manner. Nearly all metals are raised TO
vivid incandescence in a current of the
gas, many appearing very beautiful, espec-
tally aluminium and zinc. If the latter be
slightly warmed it bursts into a white
flame too dazzling TO gaze at or describe.
Although it has been known in various
states of combination Tor many years, hav-
ing been first discovered by Schwartz
hardt of Nuremberg in 1910, and redIscov-
cred by Scheele in It'll, fiuorine was not OBJ
tanned as fuorine in the free state until
about six years ago, when the French
chemist Moissan succeeded In isolating 1t
by employing current of electricity from
twenty-siX or twenty-eight Bunsen bat
teries. The current was passed through
the compound of fiuorine and hydrogen
known as hydrofuoric acid, which is sim
liar to hydrochloric acid. To improve the
conductivity of the hydrohuoric acid it
was necessary to dissolve another huo-
rlne compound in the liquid. AS will read
lily be imagined, 1t is not so difficult to OBJ
tain free fiuorine as to keep 1t when OBJ
tanned. Every part OF the apparatus used
by NJ Mossan was made of platinum, with
screw joints and washers of lead, which
swell on contact with huorine, all the stop
pers being of fuorspar Fiuorine has a
powerful affinity for silicon, one OF the
principal constituents of glass, so that it
was impossible to use glass vessels or
tubes to contain the gas.
As regards the chemical nature of fiuo-
rine it is a gas at ordinary temperatures,
and Is the lightest member of the series
of elements containing chlorine, bromine
and iodine. The attraction of fiuorine for
hydrogen exceeds that of chlorine and Is
so great that If a slow current of huorine
gas be passed into tube of fuorspare
containing a drop of water a dark fog Is
produced, which changes presently to a
blue vapor consisting of ozone-the con-
densed form of oxygen. The last-named
substance appears to be one Of the few
materials which has no affinity for fluo-
rine; nothing is observed to take place be-
tween them, even when they are heated up
to LOCO degrees Fahrenheit.
So far all experiments had been conduc-
ted with fiuorine gas. which, at the time 1t
was isolated, resisted all attempts to re-
duce 1t to the liquid state. Six years ago,
however, there was no laboratory-suc
as that at the Royal MISUNDERSTANDING
powerful machinery for producing liquid
air or liquid oxygen at the command of
the investigator; in fact, liquid air itself
was practically unknown. BY the aid OF
this weapon, Profs. Dewar and Moissan
have succeeded in lquefying fluorine. At
the extremely low temperature of liquid
oxygen 1t was found that fiuorine did not
attack glass, and 1t was possible to use
glass vessels to hold the newly liquefed
element.