The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-08-20
IN ATOMS
Likened to Infinite PoWe In an
IntinlteSinal Space.
EACH ONE IS A TINY WORLD.
" All Snouid Burst Tren Walls at
Once the Universe WoLio Dissolve
Science Is Seeking TO Control.

Once the Universe WoLio Dissolve
In an instant-A Nse.c rorce That
Science is Seeking to Control.
DO YOU remember Murn Amtldit
ilad. 1T ast. got dawn INTO tn. cav,
| under The tree. what ili"N iirpSSIblt mar
vtls lie found around bim: But among
all the riches OF the cave ther. wns
only one little dust covered thing that
was really worth the risk he mad run
because 1t alone was truly novel ana
unlike anything else in The world tn,
ntrr0nantic lamp that had the genie
foi it's slave. With that IN his posses
sion the poor boy was more powprfm
than all the monarchs In the world
provided that bp knew how to handle
the lamp, and that knowledge came To
him by accident.
have just been pUndering over some
statements by lean Bccquere the
French physicist. about the contents
OF the atoms of which nhatter Is com
posed. and they nave forcibly recalled
Aladdin's adventures to my mind The
interior OF an atom Is n little world
INFINITELY more marvellous than thu
cave that contained the magic lamp
and II cOncealS powers incomparably
gr"ater than that of Aladdin's good
gen,
To the scientific Imagination the in
side Of an atom is inversely as won
drouS as the starry heavens II is in
finite power packed into intinitesima
| space That. of course, is an exag.
geration; but this is case I'm which
one has to speak In imposing figures.
because the facts surpass all ordinary
| experience.
"The atom says lean Becqnpral.
lis closed world. OF almost closed.
and II is thai fact which constitutes
its individuality"
This CLOSED world" of the atom is
! so small that II we could increase the
powers of our microscopes thou.
sandfold we could not render II visible.
and yet that minute speck of matter
incloses "solar system" as elaborate
as that of the great sun with its
planets. and keeps locked up there an
energy so colossal that the painrst
statements ot fact that can hp made
about II seem like wild dreams
"The emanation from radinm" "a
substance whose atoms spontaneously
give out AZ least part of their en-
ergy' "is capable of liberating 2.5OO.tN
times more energy than the most v,n
lent chemical reaction known"
The world within the atom ordinarily
behaves as Ii II had no concern with
the world outside. Ii is sufficient unto
itself. 1t Is little medieval China
with closed ports and insurmounta bic
walls all round. Still. very few atoms.
like those OF radinm, have tendency
to communicate with the outer world
by kind of explosion.
II all atoms should hurst their walls
simultaneously the whole universe
would be dissolved in an instant.
The atoms that do disintegrate pass
from chnng- to change. Within their
limits the foundations Of matter are
broken up; the distinctions of the run
| damental elements are confoundpd: :
things lose their nature and shift into
other things: uranium gives birth tu
rndinn and to po'onilim; radium brings
!
non OF pOoninm that has thus far been
observed is into plain lead. 1t is like u
tranSmigrat0n Of atomic souls
Rut this Is not the only consequence
OF the opening of the world OF the
atom. That opening releases energy in
forms which we can recognize and
which some day perhaps we may be-
able tn utilize.
Atomic energy Is the magic amI.
that the Aladdin of science has tnnnr
In natures secret cave.
One day Aaddins mother fn"rd IT,.
rusty lanp where be- had rnsI II n>'d,
rs useless and thought that Sh. would
poliSh II up. Instantly. nt the first vic
orOus rub. the slave at the amt. Stuud
before her. ready To de- hrI hlddinu
The Aladdin oi irur- hn> nu
thrown his amp aside He knows II j.
full of magic. He u >ur" thrt il ht
rubs II Alright the prni. Will appear he
fore him. but he ha> not yet learned
the right stroke. And Ir'i hnI,s after all
II will be with him as II was with the
other Aladdin accident will teach him
the secret.
When that day comes, If ever II does
there will hardly be any limit to the
transforming power OF man over the
world he lives in.-Garrett Serviss
In New York journal.
Warned Against Coffee.