The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-09-04
.EVERYD A,Y MIRA Giles
OF MODERl N SCIENC El
I BY PROF; EDGAR u. LARKIN.

Discoveries now being made concern
ing radium are leading men. s minds into
the most intricate Ia byrinths OF nature.
.s Here is one OF the latest deductions that
can be mad from res searches into the ac-
Il tiyities displayed by ura mum and rad lum.
RI RadIum may be extra cted from uranium
e. 15 Il pounds yielding one a nd 5SSs a. halt
4 grains-more accura ely-1. 5432s grains sof
the precious radium. The II lie of dium
has been found to be about 200 years.
Y That is. n It will disintegrate Into other
Y phases OF matter, chiefly the rare gas
II llelum. in hat time. with the constant
evolution OF light lind heat II l.b4sy
grains turn INTO materials haying less
Igrain is transformed In Il one year. But
81 uranium slowly transforms itself into1
radlum. And the renlnrka BILE discovery
has been made i hat t he ra te OF exchange
evolve this same quantity. .otl5432 OF a
grain OF radium annually. Now. q wide
n zoos pounds reduced to- grains by TINS
minute decimal and the quotent will be
ten thousand million. Then, 81 rely Il some
y uranium that Is this moment turning into
y radium was somewhere In the universe
$ten8thousand million years q go! For the /
Observation-Disclosures reveals the fact that in |
Sall that vast sphere Syisib le In the largest
telescopes. ~ q sphere cut gu or space,
W hose diameter Is $50 enorm GUS that H. !
requires light moving with n speed of |
1S8, 600 miles during each second #of time,
thirty thousand years TO traverse, con-
Stains hundreds OF millions OF suns. made |
& OF the same kinds OF ma tier t hat we are
familiar with here On the earth The |
TO reduce to grains before dividing BY
a O015i32 In other words, II any mass |
changes Into some her one-ten thousand
Inillionth per year, - Will s5 take tent
81 thousand million years for a of 1t to
Il make mutation. ss rs 5 tt
8 The human brain has been found to be |
good conductor OF electricity. three
thousand times & CHER In conductiyityI
than muscle. a continuous current pas
y sing through the brain from ear to ear
turn like a wheel, the top of the wheel
turning from the positive toward tho
negative pole OF the battery. Electricity
& Is now sent into the brain to cure In |
V somnia. % t35S n
''6f8 Tho announcement co mes here from tho |
Il Harvard College ObserYa tory{that no less /
/. than 49, BILE stars are IN the hIagel-
81lnic clouds, In the southern Sky. There
are large dim areas Of faint light SO FAR |
II United (, states. hut the telescope sepa-
4 rates the shimmering patches of light
into stars, The fact that l52 are va able
4 In d the intensity OF light they emit IS
d quite remarkable In the history OF astron-l
f omy. Stars are a white or red hot suns;
and many vary In the quantity OF light
: they emit II a sun sunk in space has
dark worlds like the earth or Uranus
revolving around IT. these worlds may
come betweensits sun and the earth, shut
ting off some Of ats light Or vast spots
on these remote suns, like those ut tines
seenson our sun--one Is on n oW o t this !
writing--may obscure some of the br1ght
radldnce below, There are a great many
z variable suns, and this fact leadss to the
conclusion that these all have planets IN
& revolution around them. OF course, these
: distant planets may be inha bited
\; All know how q three rnered piece 81.
X glass called a prism vii separate rays OF
4 solar light Into a long bright bund of
y beautiful colors, ca lied the solar spectrlln.|
II Now s Is found that many obscure and
4 invisible Us from the sun can be slfted
out and Sc ted into an invisible spec,
trum by means d q prism. !, made q
4 trum that cannot be seen 3is revealed by
4 sensitive plates. The sun Is q source of
an almost Infinite number OF waves OF
& many different length his, oil having et-
3 feet on the earth and slts inha bitants,
The glorious sun is,ii known to be complex
u problem Sof the ,ages-hnd many Of the
most ntellectual mon sof he world arc
\ working upon ills how to- rescue these
81 waves from waste ia nd apply & them 70
# human Y sf Il va II. s3
1T SEEMS to be wei settled now that the
( historic atom Of physicists and chemists
4, IS actually Invisible into corpu SC les, From
Z many directions proof Is coming In that
4 tho atom Is q group o e corpus q es. ne
beauty OF the doctrine is that very many
obscure chemical phenomena can be ca
& planned by IT; While no fact knoWn tc-
chemists is disputed, q far reac ching argus
No