Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1908-11-04

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Prof. h. Kammerlingh Onnes OF Ley
den has succeeded In liquefying he
lium. : -
Terrifying In Its destructive aspects
and appalling in Its danger, yet In
tensely fascinating In Its possibilities
for beneiting the world, the latest
explanation of chemical science has
placed mankind literally within but a
few degrees Of the frozen pole of
knowledge.
Heat 10 life; cold Is humiliation.
The flnal and absolute extremes Of
these are as yet heights 50 exquisite
and depths 80 profound that they mock
at once the lens and the plummet-lins
of human conception.
For the sake Of convenience, how
ever, science has established pure
" arbitrary starting point for the
measurement of heat and cold. This
Is called the absolute zero,"" and Is
fixed at 459 degrees below the fam
iliar zero mark Of the Fahrenheit
Thermometers point which chemists
have valnly sought to reach ever
since Prof. Dewar most nearly up
preached ut by his astonishing feat Of
liquefying mir and hydrogen.
But even Dewar's greatest cold was
hundreds OF degrees from absolute zero
That was some ten years ago. Now
comes news from the old town Of Leg
den In Holland birthplace Of the cleo
trio battery-that Prof a.. Hammer
iingh Onnes of that city has succeeded
In liquefying the rarest and most yo-
iatile, OF all gases. He has reduced
helium Ito a visible fluid, determined
6lt1 Temperature and made the incred-
ible discovery that 1t is but frac-
tion over four degrees from supposed.
" theoretical jumping-on place OF Jack
Frost. j. -
In order to appreciate the vast sig
nificance Of Prof Onnes, achievement,
1t is only necessary to recall the means
by which the air Is kept at zero tenn
perature in cold storage warehouse.
AZ everyone knows, evaporation { suses
cold: It Is the evaporation Of the wa.
ter with which you battle your face
NOT the temperature " the water It
belf which produces the sensation Of
coolness.
| According rs the evaporation is slow
or rapid, the cold produced Is less or
greater. So, In d cold storage plant.
ammonia gas. which is extremely vol
atile, is allowed to eyaporate. either
directly into the air or It Is released
In the presence Of brine (Which freezes
only at less than zero tempera turel
and the brine, taking the Temperature
of the evaporatlng ammonia, is then
distributed in pipes throughout the q.
adjustment. Thus the desired degree
of cold ls impaired to the storare
rooms. a Z. 90
Now fancy, II you can, cold, com
pared With which the deadly chill from
ammonia gas Is hotter than boiling
oil !; call this the temperature Of LIQUID
hydrogen. Then, with this as new
point of departure, try to imagine a
| cold SO profound that beside 1t liqu. j
hydrogen itself is ms boiling oil, and
the frozen heart of an Ice plant Il
hotter than the bowels of smelling
furnace, and You have some conception
Of the temperature-if 1t can be calls |
temperature of liquefied helium.
DIR. H. T. Galpin, a well known
authori,, on refrigeration. member
of the london Society OF Chemical In
dustry, the American Chemical Society
and the Society of Electrical Engineers,
attempted to explain In non-technical
Language what the new discovery means
to science and humanity. ~
'The liquetaction of helium," he said.
'.is of the most startling aud far-reach-
ing slgnifance. 1t opens the door
to possibilities Of which students Of
Refrigeration have long been aware,
but which thus far have been beyond
our reach In actual practice. 1t Is
apparent, for example, that II we can
distribute ammonia chilled brine from
one room Of cold storage warehouse
to all the other rooms In 1t, we should,
theoretically, be able to distribute II
from a central point of houses, office
buildings, theaters and the like, at a
distance, as Is done with gas and steam.
But the size and the cost of the
plant required. the impossibility OF de.
veloplng a degree Of cold which will
not be dissipated In transit unless
pipes of prohibitive size are employed,
has placed the iden in the category
Of laboratory dreams. Even the use
Of liquid mir or liquid hydrogen would
not obviate this last objection. The
cost Of the production and the dlstribu,
ton would outweigh the benefits.
Science does not recognize the i'm.
possible. however, and II Prof. Innea
has produced liquid which, forced to
distant points through pipes small
enough to be strung like telephone
wires is so cold that such distribution
cannot materially Impair its effective.
ness-a and this seems to be the case
science has achieved a most revolu.
tionary triumph"
Ways Of French Walters.
Three Americans travelling in the
French provinces thought at dinner
Nat they would 50 littls higher thar