The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-03
METALS As LIVING THINGS.
NEW JIST.tS OPENED ny RECENT
EXPERIMENTS ~ Et'ROPE.
Evidence At Least That Metals May ne
infected with DiseaSe -The TIN Pest
Of R0thenburs May BE
POjsOnetI--N New Field for Metailu1gtsts

VmeCteO WIN UN6ASe IW feo
Of Rottenburs Metals May b
POisonetl-Ne Field for MetailuSSists
Experiments made recently In Europ'
with metals have opened new field fo
almost faiIy-like, possibilities.
The first striking discovery IL that metall
suffer from diseases. They become III snt
their strength or hardness or elasticity vii
vanish Mysteriously, and not from the
ordinary causes known TO metal workers
Through all the ages Of metal working
until now. these curious weakenlngs ant
unexpected defects in apparently sound
high grade metals have been set down Al
faws, and even scientists accepted this at
an explanation. yet now that tie recent
studiey and experiments have begun to
solve the puzzle, 1t Is evident that flaw
really explained nothing To call the de-
feet Jaw was only TO give a name that
meant very little, TO an entirely unknown
condition,
Before the now experiments had gone
far, it was discovered that metals con be
poisoned just as readily and with as fata
effect as any organic body. such as an ami.
vclopment the question arose at once
Is metal an inorganic body after all
But scientists did not care to commit
themselves 30 far. They asked themselves
the question in private at first TO ask II
in public was almost to ask the world TO
change one Of It's fundamental scientific
beliefs, the belief In great division Of
matter into two mighty classes, one OF
which is organic and the other inorganic.
Moro experiments followed, some Of
them so elaborate that a single one required
many months before it reached result;
most Of them wers so ingenious that even
ordinary scientific men could not follow
the intricate processes intelligently and
only specialists could perceive the real
meaning that lay hidden In the results.
At last, however, the demonstrat ors
had multiplied 80 much and were 30 strik-
ing in their Significance that hesitation
gave way TO certainty. and the theory Of
the disease Of metals has been so far ac-
cepted by the practical men of metallurgy
that the Imperial Navy Yard at Wilhelns-
hafen Germany. sends metals regularly
to the autopsy room" and "dissecting
tables Of Prof. Heyn, one OF the leaders
in the new investigation.
Now another of the specialists in the new
research DR.. Bechhold Of Germany has
gone still furthet--not in mere coniect-
ural theory but with conclusion reached
as the end of series OF careful logical
steps fortified by experiment
who knows" he asked in summing up
his studies, IF metallurgy will not soon
create new and vastly important branch
for itseif--the branch Of producing in
oculating material for metals which shall
change their temper and form swiftly in
stead Of waiting for the slow processes
of forging and tempering that obtain to-
day."
He explains this conclusion as follows
There are many organic and inorganic
substances in which sharp changes Of
temperature produce changes of struc-
ture, or. as scientists put it, which assume
new phases under such changed conditions.
This alteration o. form or structure, can
be produced suddenly if the Temperature
point necessary for alteration. is, very de-
cidedly over-stepped. But II the tenn sra-
lure does not 60 far above or below the
alteration point, Il is necessary generally
to introduce an artificial impulse to con-
s,immate the change.
1t ia .possible. far instance under GER
tain circumstances to cool water to tenn
perature we'll below freezing point, and
of ice Is introduced. Then it begins to
form ice crystals at once and soon ID solid.
Pure glycarinc cannot be frozen by or
binary means, even il they produce tenn
p,raturcs as low as 20 degrees below zero,
until bit OF glycerlne that has already
b,en frozen Ia introduced. But as soon
"a this crystal of frozen glycerine is in. the
rest OF the glycerne, which has been no
stubborn until then, becomes docile and
bagins to freeze.
For some time past the process has been
technically called vaccination. because the
term was so apt and convenient: but until
the present day no one suspected how much
truth lay In the accidental name for the
process.
Yet this process is nothing more OF less
than inoculating an inorganic substance
with crystals in order to breed In it the
condition of disqualification which Is the
necessary first step to lead TO freezing.
And the conversion Of iron to steel Is only
a seriea OF processes Of crysta llization.
Now recently a strange thing in metal
lurgy happened. A ship was loaded with
Banca tin In the Straits and sailed for q
northern port in Europe. When il arrived
there, and the work of unloading the valu-
able cargo began. the merchants 70 whom
il was consigned were amazed and dismayed
to discover that the entire shipment had
crumbied into dust
Here was mystery. For . long time
no one could solve it. Years ago IL would
have been dismissed finally with the state
ment that there must have been flaw
or a fault in the tin. But the flaw theory
had become unsatisfactory.
Then Prof Bredig came out with photo
graphs that he had made in a church in
Sesia. The pictures showed the rem
nants OF organ pipes, most OF them full of
queer, orumbling holes, Whole pipes had
absolutely
There was no rust. and all invest CATION
failed To show any other of the causes that
arc known as destroysrs OF metal, All
at last confessed themselves
until Prof. Bredls, who had
made study Of the new theories Of the
diseases of metals. found wound, n gem
'i!nc open wound in pipe, and his careful,
accurate and rigid experiments furnished
the convincing proof that this wound had
infected the entire series OF pipes with
creeping disease.
Scarcely had he finished his invcstiga-