The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-05-21
LIGHT WITHOUT HEAT.
Tie Puzzle of the Tiny FirefIy
and the Mighty Comet.
EACH HOLDS THE SECRET.

It % a Mystery to Science, and the Man
v he Is Able to Penetrate That Mys-
ry Will Be In a Position to Revo-
Iltionize This Planet Of Ours.
2 MS is not an Aesop fable, although
II rs moral.
: lere are two things In whose pres
enle science stands wondering and
alb jhcd-the little glowworm Tor the
ye TIMER frehy) and the mighty comet
ar ling the sky with its glimmerlng
trl n. Each Of them holds the same
sec et-how to make light without
he E. The man who gets that secret
wi rcvoutioniZe the planet
7 he late president Of the Royal AS
trC omical Society OF Great Britain
rel rrod to the value OF the comets
sec ct i'm his retiring address. He
th, lght that we do not sufficiently APP
pr, late the wondrous spectacle Of a
COZ cts tail. 1t shows us hundreds of
bill ons Of cubic miles OF space stimuli
tar oously glowing with luminosity
WI Sc origin is n mystery.
i is a gigantic experiment In
bri lch OF physics OF which we as yet
know very little. The comet Is i'm
me sed in what we may well regard
as vacuum; at least it Is far more
perfect vacuum than we can produce
Ye the persistent glow Of the comets
tail shows that there Is no real vacuum
there, but n vast quantity OF extreme
ly attenuated matter which no doubt
is tne cause Of the luminosity.
We ought Professor Newall thinks,
TO awake to the importance OF this
hint. "Who knows" he says, "wheth-
er Il we could discover a method OF
disrlptng gases and yapors in ultra
va, nous spaces artIfclally maintained
on earth we should not have n meth
cd If artificial illumination as econom-
lea, as that Of the glowworm and as
bri liant as Is needed for our nocturnal
lifc?"
This thing may really be within our
reach, although at the present time
we cannot even suggest to ourselves
exactly how Il Is to be attained. But
the tendency of recent investigation Is
In that direction. AS Sir John Her
scbcl said OF another discovery which
was just at the door, "We can feel 1t
trembling along the farreachlng line
OF our analysis"
There are not a few men, who are
rel. rdcd by their harder headed scien
tiff brethren as "dreamers," who pic
tur' 10 themselves a fast coming time
when we shall not only obtain light at
as cheap rate as the FREELY has 1t,
but when we shall have tapped the ex-
haU 3tless stores of energy that sleep
all around us in nature.
We are like one I'm dream sus-
pended I'm the midst OF vast work
shop crowded with mutitudinous ma
chi es, all whlrllng and fluttering In
a orm of energies, but which he can
ne her control nor understand. IL
we could see these things they might
ter jfy us, as the dreamer Is terrified
by the whirring belts and spinning
WI els OF his vision, seeming to grasp
at is life.
], the scientific investigator needs
TO stablish raison d'etre In the eyes
Of he public, which cannot follow
cit ,r his processes or his results. he
ha only to point to the fact that the
gre test practical discoveries Of mod
err times have come out of the labora-
tor from things as incomprehensible
TO he initiated as so much magic. 1t
is we'll known fact that the growing
mi 1T OF Germany springs from her
de, ption to "pure research"
j ferrlng again TO the pregnant hint
of the comet, Professor Newall Is
Gle rly right in saying, Here is a
the he that should stir up the most
con mercial mind in the support of as
tro omy."-Garrett p. Serviss in New
A