The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-05-22

Z, gon led to a new discovery. It had
been found that a certain rare mineral,
a compound of uranium, could be made
| to produce d gas supposed to be nitro
gen. The reported action of this gas
led Ramsay to examine the mineral in
/ question, and he obtained a gas which
proved to be a mixture Of argon and
helium.
| Helium is a gas which had UP to that
time been considered either as entirely
absent from the earth or as contained
! in chemical combination far out of
| reach in the interior, although it was
known to exist in the sun, from which
it derived its name.
When the sun is totally eclipsed
| there appears a bright, flaming envel-
/ Ope of burning gases called the chrOm
( osphere, which is usually masked by
/ the much greater brightness of the
! body of the sun. This chrOmosphere has
/ been an object of great interest to as
! tronOmers since it was first shown by
the telescope, and its appearance has
/ been observed, drawn and photograph
/ ed at every opportunity. This can be
/ done only during an eclipse. It has
/ also been observed by means of the
/ SpectrOScope, and a number of lines
have been found which did not cores
pond to those given by any substances
I known upon the earth, although some
/ of them are found in the Spectra of
other stars The most prominent of
these lines is a bright yellow line re-
! curing very close to the yellow lines
/ due to sodium. This line is known as
/ d. and was ascribed to the unknown
! element in question, which, from it's
/ existencesin the sun, was called heIium.
/ The spectrum of the new gas was care
/ fully compared with that of argon,
and Crookes determined by exact meas
urement that the bright yellow line was
I Identical with the line Do. Then Lock-
yer, who had discovered the D3 line in
! 1868 and named the substance prOduc-
ing it helium, prepared some of the
/ gas from minerals, and concluded from
/ his observations that the nature Of the
! gases obtained was not simple and
that the gases composing the mixtures
are by no means the only ones we may
hope to obtain. There seemed reason
to expect the discovery of other gases
of similar nature.
I'VE appear to be in the presence of
/ the vera caUsa, not of two or three,
but of many of the lines which so far
/ have been claSsed as unknown by stu
dents both of solar and stellar chem
i istry, and if this be confirmed we are
evidently in the presence of a new or
der of gases of the highest Importance
" CGlCSLlcdl CtAGiAilNAAys AuOuEi perhaps
they may be of small practical value to
chemists because their compounds and
I associated elements are for the most
part hidden deep in the earth's inte-
rior."
Helium was very difficult to Iiquefy,
and was condensed by Dewar only by
placing it in liquid hydrogen Its boil
ing point has not been determined, but
is probably near that of hydrogen. Ii
forms a liquid which is cOlorless in
small quantity. Large quantities have
I not been obtained. Helium is probably
widely distributed in very small guam
titles and seldom free. 1t is lighter
than any known gas except hydrogen,
and for this reason and because of its
inertness it is not found in the atmos-
phere. 1t would fly off into space.
Other New Gases.
In one of his papers on helium
Ramsay says that the comparison OF
its spectrum with that of argon may
point to the conclusion that argon is a
mixture" Recently. in 1898, four new
gases were obtained from argon. They
were called krypton, neon. metargor
and xenOn, and are considered by their
discoveries, Ramsay and Travers, ele-
mentary substances. Metargon was
first seen as a white solid in the evapo-
ration of liquid argon, but little more
than the name is known of any oil
them.
At about the same time Brush an.
nounced the discovery Of q substance