Fort Pierce news. (Fort Pierce, Fla.) 190?-1920, 1909-07-23
LIGHT WITHOUT HEAT
The Puzzle Of the Tiny FREELY
and the Mighty Comet.
EACH HOLDS THE SECRET.

Who ls Able to Penetrate That Mys
terry Will Be In q Position to Rsvo
Iutionizs This Planet Of Ours.
This is not an Aesop fable, although
II has a moral.
There are two things In whose pres
ence science stands wondtr ~ and
abashed-the little glowwOrlu tor the
yet timer freely and the mighty comet
arching the sky with its glinnerine
train. Each Of them holds the same
secret-how to make light without
heat. The man who gets that secret
will revolutionize the planet.
The late president OF the Royal As
Economical Society of Great Britain
referred to the value OF the comets
secret In his retiring address. He
thought that we do not sufficiently ap,
preciate the wondrous spectacle Of
comets tail 1t shows us hundreds of
billions Of cubic miles Of space stimuli
taneously glowing with luminosity
whose origin is mystery,
1t is a gigantic experiment In a
branch Of physics Of which we as yet
know very little. The comet is i'm
mersed In what we may we'll regard
as vacuum; at least 1t is n far more
perfect vacuum than we can produce
Yet the persistent glow Of the comets
tail shows that there is no real vacuum
there, but a vast quantity Of extreme.
ly attenuated matter which no doubt |
is the cause of the luminosity.
We ought, Professor Newall thinks,
hint. who knows" he says, "wheth.
er. II we could discover a method Of |
disrupting gases and vapors in ultra
vacuous spaces artihcially maintained |
on earth, we should not have a meth
cd Of artificial illumination as econom.
zeal as that of the glowworm 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 Her
Echel said of another discovery which
was just at the door. 1--WE can feel Il
trembling along the farreachlng line
OF our analysis"
There are not few men, who are
regarded by their harder headed scien
tifc brethren as "dreamers," who pic.
tuYe to themselves a fast coming time
when we shall not only obtain light at
as cheap q rate as the freely has It
but when we shall have tapped the ex.
haustless stores Of energy that sleep
ell around US 10 nature.
We are like one In q dream sus
pended IN the midst Of 4 vast work
shop crowded with multitudinous ma
chimes, all whirllng and huttering H.
storm Of energies. but which he can
neither control nor understand. II
we could see these things they might
terribly US, as the dreamer is terrified
by the whirring belts and spinning
wheels Of his vision. seeming to grasp
ut his life.
II the scientific investigator ueeds
to establish raison d'etre In the eyes
Df the public. which cannot follow
Either his processes or his results he
has only TO point to the fact that the
greatest practical discoveries OF mod.
ern times have come out OF the labora.
tories from things as incomprehenslblp
10 the INITIATED ms so much magic. II
= q we'll known fact that the growing
night OF Germany springs from her
devotion to pure research"
Referring again TO the pregnant hint
II the comet, Professor Newall Is
ciearly tight In saying. Here is
RENE that should stir up the most
commercial mind in the support of as
rOnonny."-Garrett p. Serviss In New
Fork American.
On tha Care az MAJ, Vail ,