Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-05-26
LIGHT WITHOUT HEAT
The Puzzle of the Tiny FREELY
and the Mighty Comet.
EACH HOLDS THE SECRET.
Il ls . Mystery TO Science, and the Man
Who Is AhIc to Penetrate That Mys-
terry Win Be In petition to Revo-
lu,ienize This Planet CT Ours.

Uuo 80 'NSic 10 fehctr3te lnst Mys-
terry Win Be In petition to Revo-
lutionizo This Planet Of Ours.
THIS is NOT an Aesop fable. although
1t has Il moral.
There are two things in whose pres
ciice science stands wondering and
;;baslhes!-the little gowworm .(or the
Yet timer tiretlv) and the mighty comet
arching, the Sky with its glimmering
Train. Each Of them holds the same
$ecret-how to make light without
heat. The man who gets that secret
will revo!utioniZe the planet.
The late president of the Royal AS.
tronol1icnl Society Of Great Britain
referred TO the value of the comets
secret IL his retiring address. he
Thought hat we do not sufficiently np.
rrrciate the wondrous spectacle of Il
comets tail. 1t shows us hundreds of
billions of cubic miles of space stimuli
tancnusly glowing with luminosity
whose origin is II mystery.
II Il IL gigantic experiment In a
branch Of physics of which we as yet
,;now very little. The comet is i'm.
llcrscd In what we may well regard
MS vacuum: at least it is far moro
perfect vacuum than we can produce
Yet the persistent glow of the comets
tail shows that there is-no real vacuum
there, but IL vast quantity of extreme
IL attenuated matter which no doubt
is the cause of the luminosity.
We ought. Professor Newall thinks.
to awake to the Importance of this
hint Who knows" he says. "wheth-
or. IL we could discover method Of
diSrupting gases and vapors In ultra
vacuous spaces artiticially maintained
on earth. we should not have II meth
cd of artificial illumination as cconom-
zeal MS that Of the glowworm and as
brilliant as is needed for our nocturnal
lifeI"
This thing may really be within our
reach. although Mt 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.
was Just ut the door. I'VE can feel 1t
trembling along the farreaching line
OF our analysis"
There are not few men, who are
regarded by their harder headed scien-
tific brethren as 'dreamers," who pic
tnre to themselves fast coming, time
when we shall not only obtain light at
as cheap IL rate as the FREELY has 1t.
but when we shall have tapped the ex-
haustless 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 multitudinous ma
chimes. all whirling and futtering In
a storm of energies, but which he can
neither control nor understand. If
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.
If the scientific Investigator needs
TO establish raison d'etre in the eyes
of 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
crn times have come out of the lahora-
tories from things as incomprehensible
TO the initiated as SO much magic. 1t
Is IL well known fact that the growing
might of Germany springs from her
devotion to '.pure research,
Referring again to the pregnant hint
of the comet. Professor Newall is
clearly right in saving. "Here is
theme that should stir up the most
commercial mind in the support of as
tronomy.'-Garrett P. Serviss in New
York American.