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SCIENCE NOTES.

> . • When Professor Ramßay discovered in a rare Norwegian mineral a few months ago the gas helium, which hud previously been fonnd only in the eun and a few stars, the natuial inference was that thi>? interesting element had probably existed, in association with the other materials c mpoeing the earth, ever since our globe was firstjformed, countleßß millions of 3 ears ego. But two hints, coming from different sources recently, suggest another possibility. It is ouly a few weeks since the New Science H*view published a paper in which William Crookes, a leading authority in spedro6copy in England, remarked that most of the rarer metals, like erbium and yttrium, were f.mnd in the northern hemisphere, a fact which might perhaps indicate, it seemed to him, that they bad an extra terreetial origin — were deposited on the earth, Jn t'scr, during a meteoric shower of eufficiert lei g'h to permit of at least one complete diurnal rotation. And now, in a brief note to M. Berth clot, of the French Academy of Sciecces, Professor Eam6ny declares that helium has been found in company with a number of rare metals, and baa been detected in a specimen of meteoric iron picked up in Augusta county, Va. Probably this lastmentioned chemical achievement was one of Rameay's own. The meteoiite, it may be reasonably inferred, belonged to some collection in London to which he had access. Although obtained in a gaseous form, helium (like hydrogen) is technically a metal, and the actual demonstration of its presence in a small body which is actually known to have reached this planet from outer space rendera Mr Crookes's fascinating suggestion the more credible, and admits the likelihood that cleveite, the mineral from which he first isolated the gas, also came from the skies, if not during the present century, at least within a very remote period of the earth's history. Conjectures of this sort naturally revive the old question aB to the unity in character of the materials oat of which the planets and stars are made. Less than 70 elements are now recognteed in the earth's crust. Only about 10 of them have yet beer spectroscopically identified with euristacces foend in the sun. If we must reject helium an^ soma others from cur comparison, becanst; they h.we c <me to us in meteorite?, then the relationship between the sun find earth will become less obvious than before, especially when we remember that there are hundreds, even thousands, of lines in the solar spectrum yet unrecognised, and suggesting—we cannot yet say proving— that the great eource of light and heat of our planetary system contains a number of elements not existing in the earth. Before the central portion of the great nebulous

mass out of which the sun and planets were formed had; shrunk ennngh to leave behind in space the independent rings in which the smaller orbs are believed to have had their origin, bad the distribution of component elements ceased to be uniform ? Did Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter— tho namoless body of which the nsteroids are regarded as the wrrck»#e— Man?, our own globe, Venus, and finally Mercury each monopolize certain materials not H66igned by gravitation to the others or to the sun 1 Again, whence come these tiny visitors from spaco, bearing, if really they do bear, samples of stuff not left in the tcrreotrial mass at its birth? Some of them perhp.pa havo been t jrcted from the sun during eruptions of almost inconceivable violence; others, certain astronomers think, are the remnants of effeto and disintegrated comets which have oome from regions ljiog quite beyond the eolar'system. The general tendency of all discovery is to show that the whole universe is composed of very much the same matter and governed by the 6»me laws ; but there are differences in detail, and pofeibly we have one of them here. • . • The announcement recontly made of a German method of producu g glass which will transmit light freely, but not heat, has been supplemented by pome detuilr a^ to the manufacture. A plate of thia mat- rial, 2 sths of an inch thick, containing 28 per cest. oi liG£ *r tho form def- cubed as ferrcus chloiide, allowed otly 4OG per cent, of radinnt heat to pnsa through it, while another plate of equal thickness, and containirg quite as much iron in tb3 form o£ ferric chloride, permitted 112 per cent-, to paps. The chemical distinction is verj Brnall, but tho tffect Is said to be marked. [ A thinner slab of this glsse allowed less tlinn j 1 per cent, of the heat of gas fhmea to pass, although transmitting 12 per cent o£ heat from sunlight. Ordinary window glaen, on the other hand, ltts Borne 8G per cent, of the heat through.— American Journal of Photography. • . • Thcuph the acidity of lemon jnice was known to the ancients, it is only in comparatively modern times that some glimpses were obtained for trie nmt time of the very remarkable substarjee to which this acidity is duo. In 1774 c. Swedish chemist named Geoigi or Georgius (as it was the fashion in thone days to Litinise the names of disth>guii=hed men) endeavuuied to obtain tlie acid in a pure state. For this purpose he filled a bottle entirely wilh lemon j"icp, corked it, and placed it in a cellar for four yeare. At the cud of that time the mucilsge and other impurities contained iv the juice were found deposited at the bottom ot the bottle. The liquid poured off from this deposit was put in a cool place, the tc-ropora-ttire Ht the time being 28deg Fehreiihei*, or 4deg of froet, which caused the water to freeze, but not the acid, and the liquid poured away from the ice wns a strong solution of k citric acid. It bad never before been obtained so etrorjg. JBat Georgi does not appear to have boiled dewn or evnporatod thie liquid to obtain the solid acid, just as solid BugaT is got by evaporating the juice of the sugar cave ; and had he done po, he would only have produced a very impure product, and have been puzzled and disappointed. It was reserved for anothsr Swedish chemist, the immortal Schetlo— to whom the science of chemistry owes a greater number of ditcovertes than to any other man— to obtain citric acid in the solid form, and to show that it was quite different from tartaric acid, which he had formerly discovered. It w*s in 1784, or just 10 years after Georgi's experiment, that Scheele made known Mb procesn for obtaining pure citric acid from the juice of the lemon, and it is that which Is carried out at the present time. •. • Italian wine merchants have re:son to congratulate themselves on the introduction of the electrical process for the ageing of. wines in the wins-producirg provinces of Italy. The proceis is said to render possible extraordinary modifications in the bouquet and body of the vintage, and the suggestion has been made that it might be employed with advantage in the correction of faults frequently apparent in California wiuea, arising from the richness of the soil on which the grapes have been grown. But the tempering of wine is only one of many uses to which electricity is now put in the wine-producing industry. In an establishment in Algeria, where the Arab labour was uncertain and unsatisfactory, a generating plant has been erected for doing the whole work. The plant consists of a compound dynamo and a steam engine. The current from the dynamo is utilised for lighting purposes and for the operation of seven electric motore, rarjging from two to ten effective horse power. Oue motor drives a one-ton crane, which lifts boxes of grapes from the ground floor to the beaticg room ; three motors operate the beaters and presses, and the remaining three are coupled direct to the centrifngal pumps, which keep the must moving in the tuns. The work of the electric motors is extremely variable, and consequently there is much fluctuation in the load of the generating dynamo. All trouble, however, ip lighting circuits is obviated by a perfect system of regulation.

Chamberlain's Cough Rtmedy gives the best satisfaction of any cough medicine I handle, and as a seller leads all other preparations in thia market. I recommend it because it is the best medicine I ever handled for cough*, colds, and croup.— A. W. Bat,dridge, Millersville, Hi. For sale by all leading chemists.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18950926.2.229

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 48

Word Count
1,417

SCIENCE NOTES. Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 48

SCIENCE NOTES. Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 48