The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1899. THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC WONDER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 19, 11 May 1899, Page 17

The New Zealand Tablet. Fiat Justitia. THURSDAY, MAY 11, 1899. THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC WONDER.

fHE century that opened with the clang and din §of a European war which resounded over three continents has found its highest triumphs in the arts of peace. It is, beyond all others the century of applied science and mechanical invention. In this, as in other respects, it has been the heir^of all the ages. For few inventions have sprung out ot men's minds f ally equipped and ready, as Minerva is fabled to have come all armed and grown up from the 1 brain of Jupiter. Like the electric telegraph and the steam engine, they are the slow result of the exparimental failures and partial successes of many a brain and hand toiler. The newest wonder of scientific magic — liquid air — is no exception to this rule. It comes to us as" the result of long and patient experiments in low" temperatures combined with high pressure. "* Twenty-two years ago Raoul Pictet gave us liquefied oxygen. In 1692 Olzewski succeeded in reducing nitrogen, to a liquid state. The most successful of this line of experimentalists was James Dewae, the Scottish chemist, an old pupil of Sir Lyon Playfaiu at Edinburgh, and of Professor Kekulie at Grhent. He went a step farther than any of his predecessors, and not merely liquefied air, but reduced it to a solid block of ice. Liquid air has a high

value in many industrial processes, but thus far the cost of • production has been prohibitive. And now forth steps Mr. Trifler (a New York chemist) on i the scene.- He has so far simplified the processes of its production as to run' it out at the cosfcof ten pence per gallon. He has thus changed it at one stroke from a mere laboratory curiosity into a mighty commercial agency, the future of which it is impossible for us, in our present state of knowledge — or rather of ignorance — to estimate.

McClure's Magazine for March makes history by being the first to announce the cheapened production of liquid air and to open up the wondrous prospects that lie before it as the future motive power, which is to supersede steam, gas, water, oil, and electricity, and work a revolution in industrial life. Events are moving fast in the fields of invention as the century dies. And we are evidently on the" eve of sensational developments. The already known uses of liquid air are so many and varied that Mr. Triplet's new method of production will at once bring it into play as one of the working agencies of our every day life. A small roomful of air, containing 800 cubic feet, can be compressed into a single cubic foot of clear, limpid liquid of such dntense cold that it turns back into the gaseous state again at a temperature so low as 312 degrees below zero of the Fahrenheit thermometer. Its value for cooling purposes is thus apparent, and it is likely to give a marked impetus to the great meat-exporting industry of New Zealand. It will also add much to the comfort of life in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Taken up in felt or cotton it forms a safe, manageable, and powerful explosive. Experiments are already being made to adapt it to use with small arms and artillery, and in the near future it may displace the smokeless powders and high explosives now. in use, and add a new terror — and therefore a new deterrent — to that ' trade of barbarians,' war. Its action on metals is ; strange to a idegree. It freezes mercury (says McClure's) 'as lurd as granite. Iron and steel become as brittle as glass. A tin cup which has been filled with liquid air for a few minutes will, if dropped, shatter into 100 little fragments like thin glass. Copper, gold, and all precious metals, on the other hand, are made more pliable, so that even a thick piece canibe bent readily between the fingers.' One of the greattst and most welcome triumphs of the new agent will, however, be in the field of surgery. ' A few drops retained op a man's hand will sear the flesh like a white hot iroa ; and yet it does not burn — it merely lulls. For this reason it is admirably adapted to surgical uses where cauterisation is necessary ; it will cut out diseased flesh much, more quickly and safely than caustic potash or nitric acid,, and it can be .controlled absolutely. Mr. Tripleii has actually furnished a well known i\ r ew York physician with enough to sear out a cancer and entirely cure a difficult case. And it is" cheaper than any cauterising chemical in use.'

So much for actual achievements. The anticipations -of its usefulness as a motivepower are well grounded. They Jire based oa the tremendous expansive force which is generated by the return of the liquid air to its normal or gaseous state. The action is exactly analogous to that of the use of steam, but with this important difference : that while water requires to be raised, at considerable expense, to above 212 degrees of Fahrenheit to turn it into the gaseous condition called steam, Jiquid air is far beyond its ordinary boiling point and returns rapidly to the gaseous state at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere even on the cQldest day. The mechanical skill of our day ought to find no diffi-' culty in devising means of harnessing this new force to drive th° flying wheels of commerce. The near future may see this effected. If and when this is effected, there should ensue a revolution in production of a far more sweeping and radical kind than that which was ushered in by the steam eugine. It should cheapen the breakfast table, the textile industries, the carrying trade, electric, lighting, etc., bring motive power into every corner of domestic use,,solve the difficulties of the auto-car, the motor-bicycle, and the flying machine, overthrow the boiiermakers', and other trades, but, us a compensation, extend the means of production along other lines" hitherto not dreamed of. Speculation will probably not be kept for long in a state of suspcuse. And those that live will probably see the harmless, necessary atmosphere haruessed to mauy an unaccustomed work.