Evening star., 1921-02-13

down within a few moments a mass
of flames. The infiammability of the
hydrogen was the one weak spot IN
this method of attack. and the Brit
ish recognized this quite early IN
the war. In addition. the constant
danger Of such death had strong
effect on the nerves of the operating
crews, so that. perhaps. the diriglbles
were not as efficient as they other-
wise might have been.
The answer. of course, was non
infiammable gas sufficiently light to
take the place of hydrogen as a
lifting force. There is only one. gas
known which has these qualities
namely. helium.
''Helium is found in the atmosphere
to the extent of one part in 1S5,000
by volume. 1t is found in gases from
springs, etc, but during the early
stages of the war neither the French
nor British seemed to have any
knowledge of a. source of helium
that would be sufncient for the pur-
pose outlined.
unN February %. 1915. Sir William
~ Ramsay wrote a personal let
ter to me from London. in which.
among other things. he said: i have
investigated blowers, that is, coal
our government. There does not ap-
pear to be anything in the English
blowers. but I am getting samples
from Canada and the states
He then proceeded to state that
personally he did not feel that the
idea was at all practical. and also ex-
pressed his opinion that owing to the
fact that airplanes could operate sue
cessfully against dirigibles. their use
was not as important as the admiralty
seemed to regard it. At the time this
letter was received. / was fully aware
of the University of Kansas on nat
.ural gases of Kansas and their incl
dental discovery of helium therein,
although Ramsay and the British
scientific men apparently had forgot
teh this work. 1t was. therefore. a
question of whether / should or
should not inform Ramsay and the
British government concerning this
work of Cady and Mcfarland At
the time all government officials were
being strongly urged by frequent
communications to remain neutral in
several weeks of deliberation l de-
cided not to inform Sir William of the
large source of hefium which was
available in this country Whether
was or was not right in this matter
is question for individual judgment
There is no question, however, that
if the matter had been taken up at
II
might have been changed to a con-
siderable extent.
"In April, 1917, ,Stended meeting
Of the American Chemical Society in
Kansas City. Mo-. where a paper on
the OF rare gases In certain I'm
Mr.. c. w. Seibel Of the University OF
Kansas, who had worked under DR..
Cady. Following this paper, In the
open discussion. mentioned the pos
advocated that the matter be taken
up seriously. G. A. Burrell of the bu
reau of mines had short time before
this learned of the interest Of the
British in helium and had also recog-
nized the possibilities of the natural
gases of Kansas as source Of sup
ply In the following June the whole
question was brought to the attention
Of DR.. F. g. Cottrell and Dr. Van h
Manning. director of the bureau of
director, to take the matter up with
the Army and Navy. Maj. (now
Col.) Charles Do F. Chandler, in
charge Of the balloon division of the
air service, was interviewed, and he
Immediately showed great interest in
tho project. Col. Chandler deserves
great credit for his broad -mindedness
and foresight in connection with this
whole work The matter was also
brought to the attention of the Navy
officials, and they became also in
tensely interested. Commanders A. X.
Atkins and H. r. Dyer and G. o. Car
ter represented the Navy. and it is
due to the interest of these men and
Col Chandler that the necessary
funds were ultimately made avail
able and tie helium project was ac-
tually made possible. The Importance
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