New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-04-01
Lecture on Liquid Air.

Intensely interesting was the lee
ture on Liquid Air delivered by Prof.
Erickson Of the State University at
the German Methodist Church Satur-
day evening. Most of the audience
were entirely new to the subject and
Mr.. Erickson handled it in such a
way, with such complete demonstra-
ton Of every fact stated, that all who
heard could understand readily the
astounding truths presented. How
ever, plain tho the facts were and
proven by experiment, the audience,
many OF them at least, are still in a
state Of -bewilderment caused by the
apparent feats Of magic performed.
Such wonderful things were done in
a breath that it almost made one
feel as tho he were watching feats
Of legerdemain. The Professor in
opening his remarks impressed upon
his audience his feeling of reverence
for the forces that he and others have
been able to make use of in their
experiments and made it plain that
he did not wish to be looked upon as
Ia juggler and asked his hearers to
take the statements that he made as
facts, improbable tho they might ap-
pear.
Mr.. Erickson showed as a preface
to his lecture, diagrams of the ma
chinery used in the production of IL
|quid air. The ingenious contrivances
were very clearly pictured and their
processes explained so that it was
shown that air must be greatly COM
pressed and cooled to a point more
than 900 degrees below freezing be-
fore it would become a liquid. On
the screen was shown a thermometer
having the bulb immersed in some Of
the liquid air. The material used,
(pentane) in the thermometer rap
idly fell when the bulb was inserted
in the liquid and rose again to the
temperature of the room when re-
moved from the liquid. The, lecturer
explained that pentane is one OF the
substances found in gasoline and
would not freeze at an exceedingly
low temperature and therefore was
used in experiments requiring meas
ures of extreme cold.
After explaining the processes of
reducing air as a gas to liquid air,
Mr.. Erickson went on to show what
could be done with the strange pro-
duct. He showed it's value in refrig-
Grating plants, stated that it might
be used in place Of an anaesthetic for
surgical operations requiring only
local insensibility, illustrated it's
great power which might be used to
run machines just as we now utilize
steam or electricity and showed the
effect it has on various substances
immersed in it. A leaden wire which
had but slight tenacity in it's natural
state, when cooled by liquid air was
able to sustain a heavy weight which
it would not lift at all previous to its
being frozen" A fresh flower was
immersed in the liquid and in mo-
ment the petals stiffened and crushed
to a powder upon being touched. A
soft, pliable rubber tube became as
hard as piece Of metal after being
dipped into the intensely cold liquid
air and was shivered to bits by the
blow of hammer. This brittleness
is characteristic of articles that are
treated by the liquid air. A quantity
of quicksilver was placed in a mold.
AS is well known, this substance is
used in thermometers because of the
low temperature at which it freezes.
Into this liquid Mr.. Erickson inserted
a hammer handle and poured some of
the liquid air into the mold. In a
few minutes the quicksilver had froz-
en- solid and the mold being taken
away a perfect hammer YVES formed
of the combination of metal and
handle. This hammer was used to
drive a nail, showing the solidity of
the quicksilver. Many other demon
strations were also made and explain
ed.
Prof. Erickson is very pleasant
man to meet, knows his work thoro-
" and it was a pleasure to listen to
his exposition of his subject. The
evening was q bad one for a lecture
because of the unpleasant weather,
but the church was comfortably fill
ed. The musical numbers were rem
dered by the Ladies' Trio of the
Turnverein, who gave two very pleas
ing selections. Another lecture is
announced for the month of April,
but the date and subject are still to
be announced. The arrangements are
in charge Of the Mems Club of the
church.
The Christian EndeavOr Society of
the Congregational Church are ar
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