Evening star., 1924-10-13

tween the flights of American Zeppe-
Inns and those of all other nations
comes through our monopoly Of he
lium, the only safe gas known. Hy-
drogen is SO treacherous that, with
all possible precautions, it is liable
to explosion through the tiniest leak.
In battle a single incendiary bullet
penetrating the huge target of thou
sands of square feet will instantly
destroy the ship and its helpless crew.
But when the gas bags are inia ted
with helium, it would be necessary
for bombs to tear the whole envelope
before the ship would fall. Fire and
explosion are impossible, for helium
is no more combustible than water
and is an excellent fire extinguisher.
A demonstration Of this fact was
given last Saturday at Langley
Field, Va, when a bomb in Army
practice exploded underneath a small
non-rigid dirigible balloon of the
Army when the balloon was $50 feet
above the ground. Five occupants
were injured because the struck bal
loon was too near the ground for
parachutes, but this was the news
report:
THE blimp was filled with helium,
the non -inflammable and non-explo-
sive gas, to which fact Air Service
officers here attribute the saving of
lives of the crew. If the bag had
clared, no one would have escaped
instant death, even if the ship had
been on the ground"
X X x X
The discovery and development of
helium is one of the most interest
ing romances of scientific research.
1t is the result of spectrum expert
ments which began in 1868 by three
scientists working separately-Jans-
sen, Frankland and Lockyer. They
noted in the spectrum of sunlight Pc
culiar lines which were found in no
spectrum analysis of any gas or light
of earthly origin. They therefore as
sumed that 1t was peculiar to the
sun and so called it helium, after the
Greek name of the sun-helos. In
1882 PALMER found that the helium
spectrum could be produced from gas
of rocks taken from Vesuvius, and in
1890 Hillebrand of the United States
Geological Survey obtained a gas
from mineral uraninite which he
thought was nitrogen, but which the
spectrum later proved to be helium.
Since 1895 it has been recognized that
helium existed throughout the world
in many kinds of stone, but nowhere
to make it of commercial use, except
in the natural gases of certain Texas
oil fields.
Not until the spring of 191S-the
last year Of the war-did the world
possess more than three or four cubic
feet of this rare gas, and it was
valued at $1,500 cubic foot; now 1t
is produced in Texas at cost of
$S2 a thousand feet, and the pre-
diction is made that it will soon be
made for $40 a thousand feet-but
only in America. Reports have been
circulated that we have not enough
helium for the two great Zeppelins,
but that is officially contradicted.
The supply is SO precious that great
care is taken against wastage, but no
one knows the limits of the natural
storage. Congress will. be called upon
at the next session to prohibit any
export of ,helium and to insure it's
Cove rnment control and conservation.
Helium alone may some day decide
the fate of the world.
X X
Important discoveries have recently
added to the economy in the use of
helium. The gas expands greatly
with the rise of the ship and con-
sequent lowering of atmospheric
pressure. When ship 10 filled at
sea level to IS per cent Of Its capao.