The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-30

or the atoms were rapidly defined. thus
opening the path for experiment in count
less combinations. yolta's pile appeared
in the last year OF the eighteenth CEN
fury, and with II Davy reduced chemical
substances so thoroughly that none OF the
elements he obtained have been deeom-
posed since, and also produced the cleo
trio light. Soon after oersted discovered
electromagnetism, which quickly gave the
ideas OF the telegraph and the motor,
while Fresnel discovered the polarization
of light. and the first asteroids were de-
tected by astronomers.
Sciences Great Discoveries of M
tural Laws.
The middle of the century was marked
by great mathematical feat, the discov-
cry OF the planet Neptune by Crouch
Adams and Leverrier independently The
invention OF photography, later employed
Systematically in astronomy. made 1t pos
sible TO detect celestial objects too faint
for human eyes TO see. while Kirchof and
Bunsen's spectroseope and the methods
OF spectrum analysis Besides the services
they have rendered 10 chemistry and ply
sizes, enabled the chemical composition of
the celestial bodies to be determined and
proved the identity In substance OF the
earth with the sun and stars. BY their
aid, too. the distance Of the stars can be
determined, and the presence and course
OF invisible stars has been found To
the middle OF the century belongs the
enunciation OF the most important law
or matter since Newton's law OF gravita-
ton, the law OF the conservation OF en-
ergy. tho doctrine. namely, that to create
or annihiiate energy is as Impossible as to
create or annihilate matter; and that ain
phenomena OF the material universe con-
sist in transformations of energy alone
Almost discovered more than once earlier
IN the century, II was arrived At indie
pendentlY by several experlmenters chief
among whom were Joule, who had pre-
viously demonstrated the law OF the me-
chanieal equivalent OF heat, and Julius
Mayer, the originator of the "meteoric
hypothesis"
Later have come Clerk ATaxweli's kinetfc
theory OF gases, the liquefactiou of ALI
gases by intense cold and the approath TO
the absolute zero; Hertz interrupted cleo
trio waves. which have yielded wireless
biography; Roeutgen's discovery of the
cathode rays. which have rendered the in
terror Of Opaque objects visible aud the
periodic law in chemistry.
A curious trait In all the sciences has
been the expectation or hope OF the dis
cnvery Of some first cause like the idea In
chemistry that the elements may vet be
decomposed and some one element az the
root of all be found. or In biology the
search for the first common element OF
life
To the Uttermost Parts of the Earth.
The achievements in geographical ex-
plorations would alone have given glory
to century less wonderful The one
nautical problem that Capt. Cook did not
live to solve. the northwest passage, was
accomplished by Mcclure and demonstrate
ed to be as inlpraeticahle as Cook sup
posed II TO be. The northwest passage
too, has been made by Nordenskjold, who
In the Vega circumnavigated the Europe
Asian continent. The search for Sir John
Franklin led to the exploration OF the
frozen archipelago north OF America and
the discovery OF the North magnetic pole
Since then the pole itself has been the
goal of Arctic explorers: Nansen has tra-
versed Greenland. Pearv has found out
that II fs an island, while Nansen and
Cagni have come within less than four de-
grees OF the pole Itself. Beyond the line
10 which Cooks decentralization re-
strlcted the possible Antarctic continent
several have penetrated. and for the first
time men have landed and wintered on