Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1913-02-25
WHAT IS SOLUBLE?
Everything In the Universe Is,
Say the Scientists.

What is soluble? Sugar in water?
That's easy, although you have 10 be
born In Kentucky to perform the trick
in the mint julep trade.
Is glass soluble In waterl Offhand
we say no. We are wrong II is. You
can try IT yourself.
Take an ordinary eight ounce water
glass, a glass that holds eight ounces,
grind It up TO a powder and pour the
powder into another glass full OF water
and stir II up. Then analyze It, or, II
this is above you, take 1t 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 as
bichloride 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 a bar Of gold and a 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 find
lead. In the lead bar they find gold.
Gold and lead are soluble in ench other
II you haven't time 10 wait year to
find out, the trick can be performed in
much shorter time. All that has TO be
done Is 10 raise the temperature Of the
two bars to a very ordinary heat-say
800 OF 400 degrees T. 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
ton, revolving round each other faster
than thought. much the same as the
planets revolve round the sun.
II our microscopes were big enough q
chunk OF gold would appear 10 our
eyes much the same as a fly hopper
fun of flies Ohe kind Of hoppers they
keep In the cheese department Of g
country grocery store i'm August The
particles are buZzing and jumping
much the same as these flies.
When a bar Of gold comes I'm contact
with bar Of lead their respective re
volving buzziug particles get together
Vnd get acquainted. They go eXplor
ing aud are lost. and before long. in
stead Of having a bar Of pure lead anC
bar OF pure gold we have two barr
~ alleged metals
This discovery has upset all sorts o.
scientific calculations. II everything Il
soluble in everything eIse-and srlen
lists can go on duplicating the gold
lead example without end-how cal
anything exist IN pure state? II can't
Chemists dispense chemicals uUdT
the label &C.. T." or chemically pure.
hut II a Or Wiley got after them or
the strict letter Of the new theory b.
would s., nj them all To Jail. because tn
chances are that all alleged pure chen
irals have absorbed little Of every
thing they came in contact with 4
the process 81 their manufacture
Analytical chemists OF this day bav
10 take into account the amount a
glass any given solution contain,
when they are testing that solution I