Evening star., 1925-04-28
E|NSTE|N'S THEORY
PROOF INCREASED
Scientists Told of Results
Obtained by Star
Observation.


the speCtroscopic observation of stars,
has been found by DR.. Walter
s Adams, director of the Mount Will
son observatory of the Carnegie In
stitution of Washington, and was re
ported at the annual meeting OF the
National Academy of Sciences mere
today.
.-Dr. Adams discoveries were de
scribed TO the meeting by DR.. George
ElIery Hale, honorary director OF the !
observatory. To obtain the substanti-
alton. DIR. Adams photographed the
spectrum of the faint companion star
of Sirius for his observation with the
assistance of the 100-inch telescope at
Mount Wilson.
DIR. Adams" said Dr. Hale. has
found a new confirmation of Elm
STEMS theory of relatively by his OBJ
servations. According to the theory
of Prof. Eddington of England, the
atoms of the chemical element must
be broken up into single electrons ana
protons under the enormous tempera-
lures and preSSures that prevail In
many of the stars.
Platinum with it's atoms intact mas
a density OF 27 times that OF water
and is the densest of the elements on
the earth. Only by breaking atoms
into their constituent unit of positive
and negative electricity can these be
crowded together sufficiently to pro-
duce much greater densities.
"Eddington calculates that the faint
star that rotates about Sirius, IN
which the atoms are thus dlslnte-
grated, should have a density of about
$4,000 times that of water. He also
calculates that on Einstein's theory
the lines in its spectrum should he
shifted by a certain amount toward
the red.
DIR Adams has now accomplished
with the 100-inch Hooker telescope the |
difficult task of photographing the
spectrum of the companion star and
measuring the position of the lines in |
its spectrum. He finds them to be
shifted toward the red end OF the
spectrum by an amount in close ac-
cord with Eddington'S prediction.
These results thus tend 10 confirm
Einsteins theory of relativity and
also Eddingtons theory of stellar con-
Stitution."
Ether Is Stationary.
In the absence of DR.. A. A. Michel |
son, head of the University of Chi |
cago's physics department, because
of illness, his associate, Prof. A. II. !
Compton, read his paper yesterday
afternoon, entitled The Latest Test |
of the Einstein Theory which de-
termined that when the earth is going |
forward in a straight line the velocity !
of light is apparently affected, but |
that rotation has no effect on light
velocity.
DR.. Michelsons experiments, con-
Quoted in conjunction with Prof. H. !
G. Gale, dean of the graduate school
of science. University of Chicago, |
indicated proof, Prof. Compton said. |
of the theory that the ether does not
go along with the earth. A race
between two beams of light, travelling
in opporite directions around a |
rectangle, was used in his expert |
ments by DR.. Nicholson, whose earlier
work is credited with having set
Einstein on the road to his relativity
theory.
Boil WeeviI Bait.
Preliminary experiments by Fred
erick B. Power and Victor K. Ches-
nut, Bureau of Chemistry, Depart
ment of Agriculture, in the cotton
belt in analyzing the odorous con-
stituents of the cotton plant, the
scientists were told, have disclosed
that ammonia and trimethylamine
were present in appreciable amounts
in the distillate, but the ammonia
largely predominated. Both sub |
stances were also found to be emana-
tons from the living plant, and al |
though further tests remain to be
conducted, 1t is considered possible
THAT the odor attracting the boil
weevil might be produced artifically
for use as a bait to lure the pest to
its execution.
The Agriculture Department chem
lists started thar boil weevil batting
experiments in the Summer of 1923, |
Messrs. PoWe and Chestnut said in
their joint paper, Government ento-
mologists having attributed the at
traction to the cotton plant of the
Weevll to some volatile, odorous sub
stance emitted by the plant which
could be detected by the pest at a
considerable distance.
Preliminary experiments with the
odor as a lure tend to prove the
effectiveness of the theory, scientists
say, and while 1t must be con-
sidered in an improved stage, help
ful results are hoped for AS sci
entists described the plan, the odor-
Gus bait would be used to lure the
weevil into traps, from which they
cannot escape, or into water.
Expects New HeIium Finds.
Although the United States is now
the only nation possessing helium
In commercial quantities, DIR. s. c.
Lind, chief chemist of the Bureau of
Mines, declared that when other
10 an equal extent there is a possi-
bility that the non -iflammable gas
will be found to exist elsewhere It
takes some 20,000,00O years for he
lium to leak up from minerals or
rocks TO the pools OF natural gas
where it is now found, he said.
DIR. Oscar Riddle of the department
of genetiCS of the Carnegie Institute
of Washington in a paper last night
described sex reversal experiments
with frogs.
Science has only 40 minutes in
the next quarter of a century to OBJ
serve total solar eclipses, Heber D.
Curtis. director of the Allegheny
Observatory of the University of
Pittsburgh, told the academy in dis
cussing the January eclipse. Oxy-
gen and additional helium were OBJ
served in the recent eclipse, Mr..
Curtis declared, adding that each
n0int of light on the 11iILv wav 'iC