Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-12-26

Is it merely electrified matter, asks
the London Electrician, or is it some.
thing essentially different from ordi-
nary matter and Of separate and in
dependent substance from atomic sub
stances? Are we in the electron, face
to face with electricity itself as thing
apart from matter chat is, is an cleo
tron simply an atom of electricity, OF
have we therein simply minute, ma
terial chip off an atom, electrified to an
enormous degree in proportion to its
mass? When these questions are an
swered they will solve many funda-
mental problems in dynamical science,
Inertia may be discovered to be electri-
cal in its essential nature, and even
matter itself may prove to be nothing
but electric whorls.
Dr. Deslandres, of Paris, has applied
fertile spectroscopic method to the
determination of the rotation times Of
the superior planets. AS the planet TO-
tates one end of its equatorial diameter
moves toward us, the other away from
us. The rotation will produce, instead
of circular image of the planet in
the spectroscope, an elliptical one. DR..
Deslandres uses a spectroscope of mod
crate dispersion with wide slit and
therefore employs a great part of the
light of the planet. The method has
been applied to Uranus, regarding
whose rotation little is known, and the
observations show that the rotation is
retrograde, as was to be expected. Its
velocity will be determined by later
observations. The velocity of Jupi-
ter's rotation agrees with the results
from observation by other methods.
The possibility of melting carbon and
maintaining it in the liquid condition
has been demonstrated by DIR. A. Lud-
wig. The heating was effected under
great pressure in the electric furnace,
and a curious phenomenon noticed at
1900 atmospheres was very brief fail
ure Of the electric are, the current re-
fusing to pass, even when the voltage
that as the carbon passed into the
liquid and transparent state it assumed
q rare allotropic form, becoming nom
conductor. The experiment was too
brief for study of this condition, but
was made to include a sudden cooling
Of the molten carbon by flooding with
water Of the interior of the pressure
vessel. Though minute diamonds We're
recognized in the gray powder thus OBJ
tanned, the result was not wholly salts
factory.
Sir Joseph Hooker, the famous bot
anist and director of Kew Gardens,
has devised an ingenious and useful
new pocket micrometer. By the SIM
pie adjustment of a scale to one arm
of the micrometer the length of an OBJ
ject is recorded up to fraction, and
can be read off at leisure. One side of
the scale is graduated to inches, the
other to millimeters. For microscopic
work there is obviously great advan-
tage in the use of such an instrument,
as measurement can be made with
out moving the specimen or removing
the eye from the eye-piece. The length
of the arm of the micrometer is exactly
four inches, and this is graduated to
tenths of inches and can therefore be
used for larger measurements. The
instrument, says Nature, from which
the foregoing description is taken, is
small and handy, and can be easily
carried in the waistcoat pocket.
A dispatch from Geneva to the Lon
don Chronicle says: A Swiss amateur
photographer, M. Adolphe Gartner. re-
siding at Berne, has, it is said, discov-
cred the secret of color photography
after a number of years of expert
ments. The inventor takes his photo
graphs on glass, porcelain and paper,
and in any color, the best results how
ever, being obtained from blue, red and
yellow. His productions on glass are
veritable pictures, being true to nature
in every detail. Even the shades of
coloring in rose are easily distin-
guished in the photograph. The photo
graph of landscape, viewed from a
distance, resembles a painting. Some
Of the bolder colors give better results
than the quieter ones, and M. Gartner
is at present occupied in remedying
this partial defect. The secret lies in
the bath" and in the developing pro-
cess, for the photos, it is stated, are
taken with an ordinary camera. Many
Continental firms are taking a great in
terest in the discovery.
A Trancresgorn Hard Way.