The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-07-21
LIGHT WITHOUT HEAT
The Puzzle of the Tiny Firef|y
and the Mighty Comet.
EACH HOLDS THE SECRET.

Il Is mystery 70 Science, and the HSn
Who Is Able to Penetrate That Mys-
terry VIII Be In Position 20 Ecvo-
!utionize This Plane. OF Ours.
This is not an Acsop fable. although
& has n moral.
There are two things in whose pres
cucc science stands wondering and
abashcd-thc little G!owworm (or the
yet timer iireey) and the mighty comet
archinS the sky with its SlimmerinS
train. Each Of them holds the same
sccret-how to make light without
heat. The m:n who gets that secret
vii! rcvolutionizc the planet.
Tho late president Of the Royal As
Economical Society Of Great Britain
referred TO the value Of the comets
secret In his retiring add-csss. he
thought that we do not sufficiently ap-
prcciatc the wondrous spectacle OF
comets tail. Il shows Us hundreds Of
billions Of cubic miles Of space sitnul-
tancous!y glowing with luminosity
whose origin IS Z mystery
II Is gigantic experiment In
branch Of physics OF which we as yet
know very little. The comet IS i'm
mcrsed in what we may we'll regard
Is vacuum: at least ): is Z far more
perfect vacuum than we can produce.
Yet the persistent glow OF the comets
taiI shows that there is no real vacuum
there. but vast quantity Of extreme
y attenuated matter which no doubt
Is the cause Of the luminosity.
We ought. Professor Newall thinks.
70 awake 10 the importance Of this
hint. who knows" he says. "whcth-
er. II we could discover method OF
disruptinS gases and vapors IN ultra
vacuous spaces arti5cially maintained
on earth, we should not have meth
cd Of artificial Illumination as ecouom-
!cal rs that Of the slowwo-m and as
brilliant as Is needed for our nocturnal
life"
This thing may really be within our
reach. although at the present time
we cannot even suggest to ourselves
exactly how It IS to be attained. But
the tendency Of recent investigation IS
In that direction. As Sir John Eec-
schel said OF another discovery which
was Just at the door. I'VE can feel 1t
trembling along tac fareach:ng line
OF our analysis.
There are not few men, who are
regarded By their harder headed scien-
ttac brethren as "dreamers," who pic
ture to themselves a fast coming time
when We shah not only obtain light ct
IS cheap rate as the frefy has #.
but when We shall have tapped the e1-
haustiess stores Of energy that sleep
all around us in nature.
We are like one in dream sus-
pended In the midst OF vast work
shop crowded with muldtudinous ma
chimes. az whirlinS and 9utterins II
storm Of energies, but which ne can
neither control nor understand II
we could see these things they might
terri us. Us the dreamer IS terrified
By ths --hirTins belts and spinning
wheels Of his vision. seeming to grasp
at his lie.
II the scientific investigator needs
to establish raison d'ctre in the eyes
Of the public. which cannot follow
either his processes or bis results, he
has only to point to the fact that the
greatest practical discoveries OF mod
ern times have come out Of tie 1abcra-
tories from things ss incomprehensible
to the initiated as SO much magic. It
Is wen known fact that the growing
might OF Germany springs from her
devotion to pure research"
Referring again to the pregnant hint
q the comet. Professor Sewali IS
clearly right in saying. Here is
theme that should STIR Up the most
coucercial mind il the support Of as
tronony.r-Garrctt P. Serriss In New
York American