Evening star., 1937-07-03
STARS, MEN AND ATOMS
Notebook of Science Progress in Field,
Laboratory and Study.
BY THOMAS r, HENRY,

An element of which minute traces
are absolutely essential for plant life, but
which acts as deadly poison to vegeta-
ton when there is a slight overdose in
the soil, is described in a report just
made to the American Association for the
Advancement of Science by DR.. Frank
M. Eaton of the Department of Agri-
cultures Bureau of Plant Industry
This element is boron, which charac-
terizes boraX and boric acid. Said DR..
Eaton:
Plants cannot survive without
minute amount of this element. Most
plants grow best when the concentration
Of boron in the soil is about one part per
million. When present in excess the
element is extremely toxic. Lemon trees
are severely injured by two parts per
million. and long list of plants will
not thrive with as much as ten parts per
million. Asparagus and the date palm,
on the other hand. are extremely toler
ant. They do best when supplied with
ten parts per million or more, and will
survive with 200 parts.
important plant diseases. such as
heart and dry rot of beets, top rot of
tobacco, drought spot and corky core OF
apples are now known to be caused by
insufficient amounts of available boron.
This element, when applied to the land
as an impurity in potash fertilizers with
out knowledge of its presence caused
much injury to crops during the World
War. Excessive amounts in irrigation
waters of the West have caused crops to
fail and the productivity of lands to be
injured. The judicious use as fer
tilizer, however, promises to increase the
yields of crops in many States, both in
foreign countries and in our own North
western and Atlantic States.
Search for elements IS and 87-the
last missing links in the table of 90 ele-
ments which are the building blocks of
all things known in creation-is being
made in material from the great "alkali
lakes" of Northern Texas, according to
a report to the American Association
for the Advancement of Science by DR..
William M Craig of the Texas Tech
biological College.
During the late Permian geological
period, about 100000 000 years ago, DR..
Craig explains, body of sea water which
originally connected with both the Gulf
of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean was
stranded in this area. Evaporation fol-
lowed and vast deposits of alkali salts
were laid down. These were later COW
cred with strata from other periods An
artesan flow of water through the Slight
ly inclined Permian strata dissolved out
some of the soluble alkali salts and
underground caverns we're formed. Over
lying strata fell into these caverns and
produced large depressions which are
called alkali lakes, some of which cover
a thousand or more acres.
Water seldom covers the entire surface
except after a rain, but seepage from
below keeps the surface continually moist,
even in periods of extreme drought.
Shallow wells furnish very strong brine
solutions The present investigation was
undertaken largely because of the sodium
sulphate content, due to the extremely
important medical and industrial uses
for this material. Some of the lakes
furnish mineral waters which are 40
times as strong as that from some Of
the most famous mineral wells of the
world. But many spectrographic plates
have been taken by the Texas chemists
in a search for the less common alkali
metals. Lithium has been found in near
ly every case It is by means of these
spectrographic plates that they hope to
find traces of the missing elements which
thus far have eluded the most intensive
search all over the world. Although
some have reported faint signs OF them