Polk County observer. (Monmouth, Polk County, Or.) 1888-1927, 1913-03-18
WHAT IS SOLUBLE?
Everything IN the Universe Is,
Say the Scientists.
GLASS DISs0LvES IN WATER.

And u Bar Of Gold 30 Placed Upon
BAR Of Lead Each In Time VIII Al
sorb Particles Of the othee--soIl
matter a Mass Of WhirIinS Atems.
What is solublei Sugar in water
That's easy, although you have to b
born in Kentucky to perform the trieI
in the mint Julep trade.
Is glass soluble in water? Onhant
we say no. We are wrong. II is. YOg
can try 1t yourself.
Take an ordinary eight ounce watel
glass, glass that holds eight ounces
grind 1t up to powder and pour fhs
powder into another glass full Of watel
and stir 1t up. Then anaIyxe 1t, or, Il
this is above you. take it around the
corner to a man who can, and he will
tell you, and with truth, that the wa.
ter In that glass had actually dissolved
3 per cent OF the glass powder.
Glass Is soluble, nearly as soluble az
bichIoride Of mercury.
Everything Is soluble in water.
Furthermore, everything In the uni
verse is soluble in everything else in
the universe. That is what they are
telling us now, and the men who tell
us can perform an astonishing expert
ment right before your eyes to make
you more than half believe them.
They take bar Of gold and bar Of
lead. They lay one bar on top OF the
other. Then they sit around and smoke
cigars and wait, say year Then they
take the two bars and analyze them
chemically. In the gold bar they flnd
lead. In the lead bar they find gold.
Gold and lead are soluble In each other.
II you haven't time to waita year to
find out. the trick can be performed In
much shorter time. All that has to be
done is to raise the temperature OF the
two bars to very ordinary heat-say
300 or 400 degrees r. With this added
heat the same results are reached over
night. Traces Of gold are found all the
way through the lead bar and vice
versa
The theory is that all substances,
whether gold or butter or leather, are
really composed Of the smallest kind
OF small particles -about the size Of the
particles making up the tail Of the late
lamented comet, which were described
as the elemental essence Of nothing
ness. These particles. which are as
much bigger than an atom as "a noun
tain compared to mouse, are In mo-
tlon, revolving round each other faster
than thought. much the same as the
planets revOlve round the sun.
II our microscopes were big enough
chunk of gold would appear to our
eyes much the same as a Hy hopper
lull of iies (the kind Of hoppers they
Eeep. In thu cheese department OF a
country grocery store In August. The
are buzzing and jumping
much the same as these flies.
When bar Of gold comes IN contact
With bar Of lead their respective re-
volving buzzlng particles get together
md get acquainted. They 60 explor-
ng and are lost, and before long, In
tead Of having bar of pure lead and
bar Of pure gold we have two bars
4 alloyed metals.
This discovery has upset all sorts Of
cientific calculations. II everything IL
oluble In everything else--and scien-
lists can go on duplicating the gold
sad example without end-how can
nything exist In a pure state? 1t can't
hemists dispense chemicals under
he label &C. r." or chemically pure"
ut II DR.. Wiley got after them on
be strict letter of the new theory he
'ould send them all to Jail, because the
1ances are that all alleged pure chem
ais have absorbed little of every
ling they came In contact with In
le process Of their manufacture.
Analytical chemists Of this day have
take into account the amount Of
ass any given solution contains,
hen they are testing that solution In
st tube. Otherwise their results
ouldn't count for anything.
This discovery suggests an expiana-
on OF that mysterious element In out
'or life. scent How can a hound
ace his quarry7 Everything a man
nches dissolves little Of him When
3 foot falls on the ground he leaves :
trace OF himself. In warm weather
In wet weather be leaves a bigger
nee than in cold or Dig weather. A
und follows damp trail Usually
} sense Of smell is not acute enough
follow a dry trail
rhe suggestion that a fugitive pur-
ed BY q bloodhound actually dis r
ives a few particles Of himself every
he his foot touches the ground. Just r
though he were a lump OF sugar In -
tier. souI'ds fanciful. but Il e sp-
aring more and more reasonable In
light Of recent researehes.-F. L
derson IN Chicago Record Herald q