Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-12-07
BUBBLES LAST FOR .4G Els.
They Have Been Found Securely Embedded
in Solid Quartz

Iney hhFe been tOnnu securely ImDeuueu
in Solid Quartz
Chicago Chronicle.
Bubbles light as air. are not
| known to endure for long time, and
DIR. A. A. Julien Of Columbia College,
| has in his possession two or three of
| the most wonderful minerals in the
| world. One of them is piece of
| quartz which he picked up near Col
umbia, N. II. This bit of quartz is
transparent and has little cavity in
Its centre filed with liquid, in which
a bubble Of gas keers jumping about
from side to side. The bubble is very
small and can be seen only under the
microscope. 1t is about one microm
that Is. 1-25,0 600 inch in diameter,
and it dashes from wall to wall of the
cavity in restless motion, like nomad
trying TIC escape.
This nomad must have continued
during tho ages which have elapsed
since the consolidation of the granite.
In other words, the little bubble was
| Enclosed in the quartz several million
years ago, when all rocks were in a
molten state and the earth was in
process of formation. Probably it has
kept in motion longer, and moved a
| greater distance, back and forth, than
any other substance on earth. The
cavity in which it moves is about
double it's size, SO that the bubble
| travels about 125, 900 inch at every
| jump, and it moves irregularly several
times each second. If it has been
moving thus but twice second for
but l,000,000 years it must have
travelled 1,400,000 miles. OF course,
the bubble has been jumping about
for more than 1000 600 years, if the
estimates of the biologists are correct.
The liquid in the little cavity is prob
ably saturated solution of common
salt, and the gas is carbon dioxide.
DIR. Julien has another piece of
quartz, found in North Carolina, which
has cavity holding liquid and a
bubble, which is remarkable because
| the bubble can be made to appear and
disappear at the will of it's owner. All
one has to do is to breathe hard upon
it, when it will disappear. 1t is the
heat of his breath which causes the
liquid 10 expand and fill up the space
| ordinarily occupied by the air bubble.
| OF course any gentle heat will cause
tile change.
| DIR. Julien has still another gas
bubble, this one inclosed in piece of
white topaz from Minas Geraes, Brazil,
which, under the microscope, shows
some wonderful effects. The cavity is
tubular aud the sides or walls are
parallel to the sprisnatic faces of the
| crystal.
The liquid in the cavity is quite
| strong brine, with still another color
less liquid (liquid carbon dioxide)
occupying central position. Looking
| through the microscope you may see
the first cavity, then the denser brine
near its ends, with infinitesimal salt
cubes floating 10 it; then, in tho
centre, the liquid carbon dioxide, with
The air bubble in the middle of it.
The curves Of demMcation which show
up between the colorless and non color
less liquid are very beautiful.
1t is really one liquid floating within
another liquid and an air bubble in
the centre of all. The air bubble
always floats near the upper surface
OF the cavity, which ever way the
mineral is held, so that the piece of
topaz is o natural spirit level.