Evening star., 1928-11-27
SCIENCE REVEALS
CHEMICAL SECRET
Law of CapiIIarity Destined
to Rival Electricity in Ef-
feet on Civilization.
By the Associated Press.

bS ttle ASSOCIdteu TEeSS'
BALTIMORE, Md, November 27-
Revolutionary discoveries bearing on the
scientific law of capillarity, recently
achieved in the chemistry laboratory OF
Johns Hopkins University, have opened
the way in the opinion of some author
tiles, toward increased control over
phenomena destined to rival electricity
in their effect on civilization.
Upsetting previously accepted con-
cepts of capillarity, the very name of
which is unfamiliar to most persons,
although their lives and many industries
depend upon it, Drs. J.. G. w. Frazer
and Walter A. Patrick, professors of
chemistry, have found that its force is
many times greater than has been
thought.
Conclusion only preliminary"
This discovery, based on careful and
extensive work of DR.. Patrick on adsorp-
ton, is only partial result-a pre-
liminary conclusion"-in broad pro-
gram of research by DR.. Patrick, which
has been in progress for some years and
will not completed for many years
to come 1t is so new that the habitu-
ally and deliberately cautious world OF
science has not had time to obtain the
1IOAl OVAACA
investigators which it demands.
The evidence howev.-, is regarded
as convincing by DR.. Joseph s. Ames,
noted physicist and provost Of the uni
versity. Conceding that the notion may
appear fantastic, he predicts that,
through applications yet undreamed,
which will be made possible by in
creased understanding, capillarity and
the associated phenomenon of adsorp-
ton will be recognized in the next
decade or two as comparable in value
to electricity.
Absorption is the force which causes
the molecules of water and other SUBJ
stances in solution in the form of gas
or vapor to condenSe on plane surface
and adhere to it "a layer of liquid.
Pores Object of Study.
To establish the validity of their new
theory about capillarieS, because of the
adsorptive action of the walls of these
minute pores, Drs. Frazer and Patrick
had to prove that such films of liquid
never exceed the thickness of single
molecule, about four-billionthS of an
inch.
Capillary action was first mentioned
by Leonardo da Vinci in the fifteenth
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glass tube having an exceptionally fine
bore, no larger than a hair, was in
serted in water the level of the liquid
inside would rise above the outside level.
Systematic Scient'ec investigation of
this phenomenon, however, did not be-
gin until the opening of the eighteenth
century.
Since then it has been learned that
plants and animals are honeycombed
with innumerable fine pores and veins,
known as capillary vessels. which func-
ton in the movement of the Sap blood
and other Secretions through all parts
of the organisms, distributing the essen
tial elements which sustain life and
carrying away the waste.
Other Substances Considered.
1t also has been known for many
years that charcoal. silica gel and other
substances were similarly equipped with
fine capillaries AID would draw moisture
out of the air. Not until the World
the forces involved receive any decided
stimulus.
This came through the discovery made
by DR.. Patrick while working on the
problem of devising means for protect
ing soldiers against poisonous gases and
vapors that the deadly elements could
be removed by placing such porous ma
terial in the cannisters of gas masks
through which the air was drawn for
breathing.
Charcoal made from peach pits, CO.
conut shells and similar substances
were used for that purpose. In the
meantime Dr. Patrick developed an eco
nomical method for making silica gel
thus producing a practically indestruc-
tible system of extremely minute, in
visible capillaries capable of drawing
unexpectedly large quantities of vapor