The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1901-10-15
SCIENTIFIC FACTS.
UNDISCOVERED DISCOVERIES" YET
TO BE EXPLAINED.
a Large Portion Of Our selentine Know
ledge Is Purely Empirical The Why
Of Many Things Is Unknown Even TO
Scientists.


Scientists.
A certain man. who since has made
4 reputation as a newspaper man and
author in New York. never could
make much progress as youth in
chemistry because he wanted TO know
why" When he saw the professor
mix oxygen and hydrogen and produce
water he demanded to know why this
result, and as no one could tell him
ne became discouraged. AS a matter
Of fact, a large portion of our seien-
tihc knowledge is purely empirical
The knowledge derived from the OBJ
seryation OF phenomena from expert
ence and experiments. enables us 10
accomplish wonderful things but there
our knowledge sticks. The world is
ull Of undiscovered discoveries" " II
IS now six years since Professor
Roentgen passed his new light rays
through wood. paper and flesh, but 20
this day no one understands why
those rays act as they do. At first
some scientists fell back In despair
IN the old theory Of light, which was
that a radiant substance gave on light
as a flower does scent; but as that
theory has been totally exploded the
rays are as great a mystery as ever
in fact, the more we try 10 learn about
them the more mysterious they be-
come Then there are the l-rays. by
4 A I.sso q
loft. has steered a torpedo at a dis
tance of two and half miles with no
connecting medium but the air and the
water The Y-rays are as great
mystery as the X-rays and, as II these
were not enough, along comes the
Polish scientist. Cuire, with his Bee
querel rays which he obtained as the
result Of experiment and which puz-
zled nobody more than their diseov-
erer. A substance called radium. which
CURE discovered, can be made 10 act
as a sort OF mineral glowworm. II
will store up sunlight. and even II kept
for five years in pitch-dark place will
give OF light at the end Of that time.
AS radium costs 81 500 an ounce TO
prepare, this sort OF perpetual lamp 1t
is not likely to become popular, how
ever Take a lump Of loaf sugar and
spin Il rapidly on a turning lathe tap
ping q gently the while with small
hammer. The result viii be a con-
slant display of light Why? Nobody
knows. Then there Is that scientific
wonder, the spectroscope an instru-
ment made Of glass prisms Iron. gold
each different produces a
different dark line across the rain
bow-like play Of colors into which the
prisms divide the white light, and we
thus are able to know the composition
Of the sun. moon and stars. We know
By experiment that the different lines
win be found in the spectrum. and
that they are caused by interference OF
rays. But why do these various sub
stances produce these various rays2
Again nobody knows. We are so ac-
customed to the compass that we for
get what a wonderful thing it Is and
how little we know about IT. The
greatest scientist to-day knows scarce
ly more about why the compass acts
as IL does than did the first man who
used it "in the early dusk and dawn
Of time" We have discovered that a
magnetized piece Of steel, swung On a
pivot. will. as a rule, point In a cer-
tain direction. Why II does so is not
known for certain. and perhaps never
will be. though any number Of in
genious and learned theories have
been advanced. In some parts Of the
world the compass points due north,
and in others it points to the east or
to the west Of north. And In some
parts it will not act at all. Al a place
called Kotchetowka, In Russia, Pro-
fessor Leyst Of Moscow found that the
needle pointed downward, just as It
does at the magnetic pole. And yet
there Is no iron within 600 feet Of the
surface OF the earth at that place The
whole subject Of magnetism and cleo
trlcity is fun Of miracles and mys-
teries. Even ordinary everyday milk
has its mysteries. It has been found
that by putting milk into hollow steel
cylinders and applying great hydraulic
pressure It can be kept sweet for days.
A pressure OF seven tons to the square
inch for an hour has been found to
delay fermentation or "souringr Of the
milk for seven days. while samples
kept under a pressure Of fifteen tons
to the square inch we're sweet and
fresh at the end Of a fortnight Here
is something else 10 think over. How
does mere pressure prevent fermenta-
ton New York Press
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