The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-06-25
u WONDERS o. lReDN
I1ooTANT FACTS nDGA1uuSc
uwUT1ruESTs or ATMOsPuEnE.
= Bxtraet Ere. . Lecture Deliver
- ~ sylvester Bethel Defoee the
A1ssnseA CHASE IN CAeaistsy 81
- University - WashanGsss.

- HAT the United States govern
ment ix In the habit OF encour-
aging scientific tnvsstigntion BY
Offering prises from time 10 time
r. shown from the fact that on
March q. 116. the Smithsonian
fae11tution sent out circulars offering
S1ane for a treatise embodying some new
SnA Important discoveries In regard TO the
121,6ee and properties Of atmospheric air.
~ eompstition for these prises ciosed
6eeeaber 81 1894 and on August .. lse6.
Eo award COMMITTEES. having completed
p examination OF rs papers submitted
she contestants, granted tho hrst prize
= GOaD u Lord Rayieigh Of London. and
49,. william Ramsay. Of the University
NaaknGe London, for the discovery Of
enxapn." q new element OF the atmoo-
70 doubt most Of you are already ia
n110or with the known constituents Of
u atmosphere. yet, trust that few
0peds here regarding its composition win
80 essentially Of . mixture OF Oxygen
~ nitrogen To the oxygen II owes Its
fowss OF supporting respiration and
1mbustion: the nitrogen In incapable Of
1semicai upion under ordinary condi-
11nos, IT. chief mission seeming to be to
fonpor the fereeness Of oxygen. Both
$500 gases were discovered more than
hve established the proportion In which
they occur In the air. For long tgne
- akmoophere was locked upon ~ .
nixfure Of gases. many OF which were
cken,lcalIy combined. but recent invesu-
qataons have proven beyond doubt that
- afrn0ephere II a mechanical mixture
r GuhstAnces. the larger part Of which
- gases. Many Of these gases and va
noRu are met with In nearly constant pro-
roetions. whilst others on the contrary
- very variable In their amount.
u To q few months agosit WAS believed
~ chemists that free hydrogen could not
o11st n the atmosphere on account OF It's
04at chemical affinity. but according to
~ Investigations 1T Armand Cautisr. re-
ooe1od IN the Journal OF the Chemical
oociety. March. lsss. pure Air contains
onAn amount Of fres-hydrogsn. tho pro-
Dsetien varying from eleven TO eighteen
$40 centimeters per hundred titers.
no nitrogen. ~ W now know. forms
an0ut four-fiffhs. b. volume. Of the at
Doophere and In essential to animal and
rlaat life. Notwithstanding the fact
ihat nitrogen occurs IN such large guam
tlties In the atmosphere, yet We have no
yoaoon to believe that II extends to the
t1pths OF tho earth. That nitrogen plays
q important part In the economy Of
noturs u shown ~ the fact that animal
~ cannot exist In pure oxygen. IL an
anlsnal be placed In pure oxygen. II will
~ into an abnormal State and die The
nitrogen Of the air In not directly alb
ooebed BY either plants or animals. but.
On the contrary, II II taken up by these
1Fgenisms from already prepared nitro
EoneOua compounds.
~ We have already seen nitrogen ex-
MS IN the free state and Also chemically
combined. Now. IL has been known for
noano time that nitrogen extracted from
chs4hIcai compounds n about one-hqIf
pr cent. lighter than atmospheric nitro
esn Al first attempts were made to ac-
count for this disagreement by the pres
sacs Of known impurities. OF these the
mast likely appeared to be hydrogen.
But inAsmuch A. tha intentional intro
duotion OF hydrogen into the heavier gas
had NO effect upon It's weight. this ex-
planation had To be abandoned. and finai-
b Il became clear that the difference
could not be accounted for by the pres
snce Of any known tmpnrity Many the
estss were thus advanced apd exploded.
until II was proven beyond 4 doubt that
She only way OF accounting for the ex-
eesH of weight In the case Of atmospheric
nitrogen was to admit the presence OF
come unknown substance.
Among the earlier investigators OF this
pAsncmena was Cavendish The final So
luton was, however. worked out by Ray
leigh and Ramsay. I'm their preliminary
experiments the apparatus represented
IN figure was used by them II consists
~ series of tubes. at either end OF
which wa have a large receptacle "a and
b for the holding of gas, and at G II
device for the admission of gas into tho
eyytem OF tubes. The tube ID was half
hlcd with soda lime ard half with phos-
phcfic snhydriie. similarly the tube T..