Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-21
STUDIES
KEYSTONE OF LIFE
Mysteries of ChIorophyII Are
Explained Before American
Physical Society Meeting.
BY THOMAS R. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
Efforts to determine the nature Of
chlorophyll, the mysterious substance
which is practically the keystone Of
plant and animal life, were described
before the American Physical Society
meeting here yesterday by w. w. Cob
lenz and Ralph Stair Of the Bureau of
Standards.
Chlorophyll is the green coloring mat
ter in foliage. The function Of Choir
ophyll consists in the absorption and
decomposition of carbon dioxide gas, re-
'sulting In the evolution of oxygen and
the production of nOw plant substance.
This action takes place only in sunlight
and apparently is due to some reaction
between the light and the chlorophylI.
Is Basic Life Process.
This is apparently the basic life
process. It enables plants to grow by
direct action of the sunlight, trans
forming energy from the sun into chem
ical energy, which Is stored up in them
as food for animals, which have no
chlorophyll. Chlorophyll. together with
its companion foliage pigments. xantho-
phyll and carotin. have been isolated in :
pure form by DR.. F. M. Schertz of the
Department Of Agriculture, who an
nounced his findings at the meeting of
the American Optical Society here last
Winter.
The chemical constitution of chloro-
phyl remains unknown, but evidently
DR.. Stair studied 1t in relation to the
absorption bands Of infra-red light and
found several bands which also are
found in compounds of oxygen-hydro-
gen. nitrogen-hydrogen and carbon
hydrogen.
II one travels . mere 176,0o0,000,-
000, 900 900 000, 900 miles in any direc-
ton, one will be back at ones start
ing point, according to a new measur-
ment of the curvature radius Of space
time by Ludwig Silberstein of the East
man Kodak Laboratories. This will
take place, however, in a universe the
nature Of which is incomprehensible to
the average mortal. The measurement
presupposes the geometry upon which
the EinStein theory Is constructed, in
which space Is very different from that
apparent to the senses.
Space Is Boundless.
Space in this Einsteinian universe is
boundless and yet finite. just as the
surface Of the earth is boundless and
yet finite In the ordinary geometry of
three dimensions. II a person moves
in what appears to be continuous
straight line along the surface of the
the starting point. 1t is obvious to a
man why this happens-because what
appears to be straight line on the
earth's surface really Is bent in a third
dimension and he has followed, not a
straight line. but a great circle.
But to some intelligent worm living
on the surface of the earth, but hav-
ing no conception of third dimension,
the return to the starting point would
be very puzzling. In the supposedly
actual universe of four or five dimen-
sions. only three Of which have any
reality to the human senses. man is in
the position of the -dimensional
worm. Space-time itself, in some in
comprehensive way, bends back on
itself just as the surface of the earth
600, 600 100000 miles the person not
only would have returned to his start
ing point In space. but probably also
to his starting point in time.
This figure for the circumference Of
space-time was obtained by DR.. Silber-
stein through data obtained at Harvard
University from observations on two
groups of stars known as Cepheid vari-
ables. ProdigiouS as the figure seems,
it Is 20 times less than q similar calcula-
ton made by DR.. SilberStein five years
ago on observations of the Magellanic
clouds, great clusters of stars which lie
at enormous distances outside the Milky
Way galaxy. of which the earth Is
part, and which are visible in the
Southern Hemisphere. He prefers the
ed g. CnV-f-
GUS errors have been found in the
Magellanic cloud data, while that based
on the Cepheid star observations Is
much more accurate.
Latest Theories Attacked.
The latest theories of Einstein, which
seek to provide common explanation
for the phenomena of gravitation, elec-
tricity and magnetism in terms of the
structure of the universe itself rather
than as mysterious forces, came in for
attack from two sources. Norbert VIE
ner and M. S. Vallarta Of the Massa-
chusetts Institute Of Technology con-
tended that by Einstein's own equations
accounting. for electricity and magnet
ism the gravitational field itself van
ishes. THE new Einstein theory" they
declared, lacks at present all expert
mental confirmation"
Glen H. Draper of the Naval Observa- |
tory proposed new theory Of light
varying considerably from that of Elm |
stein. In this mathematical theory |
space is considered as three dimen- |
sion void, except when occupied by mat |
ter or light. This offers an explanation, |
Draper said, of the puzzling effects of |
the famous Micheison-M Morley expert |
ment which apparently disproved the i
existence of ether and led to the con- |
struction Of the weird universe Of Elm
stein.
Herbert J. Brennan of Northwestern !
University went back to Sir Isaac New
ton in expounding a theory that light |
consisted of minute corpuscles which |
are the same as electrons of matter, the |
speed Of nearly 10000 miles a second. |
Electrons studied in connection with |
matter move at maximum of about |
$50 900 miles second and hence, Bren- |
nan says, have not been identified with |
light.
The corpuscular theory of Newton
held the field until about the middle OF
the nineteenth century, when 1t was
found that 1t did not fit certain phe-
nomena and q wave theory formed
which .necessitated the poStulation OF
an ideal substance filling space known
as ether. Under this theory light had
no material substance.
This theory also failed TO At certain
observed phenomena with the result
that during the past few years 1t has
been displaced by the quantum theory,
by which light is considered both as
corpuscular and as wave motion. The
"quanta" however, have not been con-
e{dnraA the vxaA a q nloAfrNy1G
Physicists appeared in new role at
a banquet at the Cosmos Club last
night when William Heisenberg and
Arnold Sommerfelt, distinguished visit
ing German scientists, and w. F. G.
Swami, vice president of the society,
constituted an orchestra. The two Ger
mans are ACCOMPLISHED pianistS and