The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1913-10-08
MAGIC OF COLORS
BY 1t We Know of What the Sun
and Stars Are Composed.
SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE.


How They Were Revealed by the Dis
covery Of the Spectrum and the Rea-
sonine to Which 1t Led-our Eye
Iashes Are Primitive Speetroseopes.
The miracle of the spectroscope Is re-
peated before our eyes every day and
every night without our recognizing it.
II people were more observant and
more accustomed to think about the
meaning Of what they see great dis
coveries would be as plentiful as dia-
monds in a Kimberley pipe.
\ man said to me the other day.
"What is all this color that I see\When
+ squint my eyes and look at an elec-
trio ligbt:"
I replied: 1T is the greatest rev.
elahon that man has ever bad in the
physical world-it is spectrum analy-
sis. Your crowded eyelashes become
an astronomical instrument and ana
lyze the light for you into its primary
colors. The multitude Of narrow Sits
through which the light passes as you
squint your eyes act Ike difraction
grating and change the direction Of the
various waves Of light in accordance
with their length.
"The red waves are long, one thir-
nine-thousandth Of an inch in length,
and they keep on without much change
Of direction. but the violet waves are
short. one 6fty-seven-thousandth Of
an inch in length. and they are consid-
erably turned out Of straight line.
All the intermediate waves, from Or
ange. through yellow. green. blue and
indigo. decrease in length and are
more and more turned aside as they
get shorter. The consequence Is that
you see through your nearly closed
eyelashes band Of coiors, which IS
nothing but the famous spectrum OF
| the astronomers
By the discovery Of that spectrum
and the reasoning that it led to we
have found out what the sun and the
stars are made Of. Every known ele-
ment Of matter. when it is made to
shine, gives out wave lengths peculiar
to itself. Spectroscopic instruments
more perfect than the eyelashes reveal
these special waves in the light Of the
sun and the stars and by that reVela-
ton enable us to detect the incandes-
cent clouds, composed Of the hot va
pors Of iron. copper, nickel. platinum,
carbon. calcium, sodium and many
other substances which glow in the
atmosphere Of the heavenly bodies.
We find these things in stars so far
away that their light may require
1000 years to come to US, although 1t
flies with a speed Of 10000 miles per
second.
Look around you when you enter a
brilliantly lighted parlor with crystal
chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
The mysterious spectrum flashes at
you from hundred directions at once.
The glass crystals Of the chandeliers
are also spectroscopes, and they, too,
separate the various colored waves.
though on a somewhat different prin-
ciple. They act not as diffraction graf
ings, but as prisms, but the effect Is
nearly the same. When light goes
through a prism the red waves are less
bent out Of their course than the Or
! ange. the orange less than the yellow,
the yellow less than the green, the
green less than the blue, the blue less
than the indigo and the indigo less
than the violet. The result is that
what was white light, with all its
waves intermingled, when 1t entered
the prism, comes out in beautiful
'sheaves Of color.
A similar effect is produced by the
beveled edge Of mirror or the facets
Of a piece Of cut glass glittering on
, dinner table.
The beauty Of jewels depends upon
their spectroscopic powers. Every
transparent substance has its own '1n-
dex of refraction," which means Its
peculiar power Of turning light waves
aside. The diamond, as the king OF
gems. possesses this power in the high
est degree. Calling the refractiTe In
dex Of air 100, that Of glass is from
Isl to III, according to its density.
while that Of the diamond Is 2.47.
This property alone furnishes a
means Of detecting the genuineness OF
diamond. Taking advantage OF its
high refractive power and shaping its
facets accordingly. the jeweler can
vastly increase the brilliancy Of dia-
mond by proper cutting. he can bring
about internal reflections that make
the stone blaze as Il its atoms were all
afre.
The simmer Of colors in an opal Is
due to the existence Of inTisibly MI
mute assures. which split up the Light
waves and scatter their hues In dell
cate. intermingled rainbows.
Nature has been doing these things
for thousands of years in plain sight
before man found out that he could
use the principle on which she acted
to uncover the secrets Of the universe.
Very likely she IS giving US many ;oth-
er equally valuable hints which We are
stil! too stupid to understand.-Garrett
P. Serviss in Spokane Spokesman-Re-
view