220 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL, 



of precision, discovered certain lines in 

 the solar spectrum which could only be 

 accounted for on the hypothesis of a new 

 element, which he named helium. 



The most prominent of these lines was 

 one marked D 3 , close to the yellow line 

 of sodium. The first thing which struck 

 Ramsay in examining the gas from 

 uraninite was the D 3 line of the solar 

 spectrum. Amazed, and half doubting 

 his own senses, he sent the tube to Pro- 

 fessor Crookes, of London, the world- 

 famed authority on the spectra of the 

 elements, who fully confirmed Professor 

 Ramsay's discovery. Since then helium 

 has been prepared by L,ockyer, Cleve, of 

 Upsala, and others; and its existence 

 can no longer be doubted. The gas, 

 however, obtained from cleveite is not 

 pure helium , but contains other elemental 

 gases hitherto unknown, whose investi- 

 gation and separation will tax all the 

 powers of chemical ingenuity. The pres- 

 ence of these other curious gases, the 

 simplicity of the helium spectrum, the 

 obstinate pertinacity with which it re- 

 fuses to be classed with any of the 

 "happy families" into which the other 

 elements have arranged themselves, to- 

 gether with the enormous quantities in 

 which it exists in the hottest part of the 

 sun's atmosphere, lead us to think that 

 we are on the " ragged edge " of solving 

 that burning question of physico-chemical 

 science, the genesis of the elements them- 

 selves. It is very probable that the 

 atoms of our so-called elements are but 

 different combinations and aggregations 

 of the atoms of one primordial element; 

 and it is possible indeed that this primor- 

 dial element is helium or one of the 

 strange elements associated with it. 



The late Professor Huxley says that 

 the " idea that atoms are absolutely un- 

 generable and immutable ' manufactured 

 articles ' stands on the same sort ot foun- 

 dation as the idea that biological species 

 are ' manufactured articles ' stood thirty 

 years ago;" and Professor Richter, of 

 Breslau, stated in 189 1 that the various 



properties of the elementary atoms may- 

 be explained by the supposition of yet 

 simpler primordial substances." These 

 "simpler primordial substances" have 

 very probably come upon the stage with 

 helium within the last three months. 



Hail to them! We may now realize 

 the dream of the alchemist — the trans- 

 mutation of metals. But outside of these 

 considerations there are others of a some- 

 what different nature. The gas nitrogen,, 

 so lazy and inert that it is useful in the 

 atmosphere merely as a diluent, when in 

 combination with other elements, gives 

 us our most valued medicines, poisons, 

 explosives, and industrial products. Its 

 useful compounds may be numbered by 

 the thousand. The gas helium holds 

 out the same promise. When made to 

 combine with other elements, we may 

 look for compounds having properties a 

 conception of which we have as yet not 

 the shadow of a dream. — Scientific Ameri- 

 can. 



Upas Tree. — Prof. Wiesner, during his recent 

 stay in Java, ascertained some interesting par- 

 ticnlais with reference to the celebrated Upas 

 tree, Antians toxicaria. Contrary to the gen- 

 eral impression that this tree is not uncommon 

 in Java and Sunda Islands, he learned (Pharm. 

 /our., LI V., p. 1094), that the original speci- 

 men described by Leschenhault has been felled,, 

 and in the whole of Java there were only three 

 individual trees belonging to the genus Anti- 

 aris and closely allied to A. toxicaria. Of these 

 three trees one was found by Dr. Greshoff to be 

 innocuous, and was, therefore, A. innoxia 

 Blume, a species supposed by many botanists to 

 be only a variety of A. toxicaria. The second 

 tree proved to be poisonous, one drop of the 

 latex being sufficient to kill a dog; the third 

 has not been examined. The tree has, however, 

 been cultivated in the botanical garden, and 

 there are now in the plantation at Tjikomoh 

 about seventy specimens. Neither in the bo- 

 tanical garden nor in the plantation could any- 

 ill effects be observed even after having been 

 for some time in the neighborhood of the trees, 

 and the accounts of the poisonous nature of the 

 exhalations from it are much overstated. Dr. 

 Burck has shown that the plants give off no in- 

 jurious vapors, and the latex is poisonous only 

 when it passes through a wound into the blood. 

 Material brought from Java by Prof. Tichomi- 

 row has been examined by Gorodetzky. The 

 bundles in Antiaris toxicaria are bicollateral; 

 the laticiferous cells which do not anastomose 

 with one another contain a granular, light 

 brown, strongly refractive matter. The juice 

 contains a glucoside antiarin, the best reaction 

 of which was found to be the change of color 

 from yellow to orange-red on boiling a solution 

 with sodium picrate. — Merck's Report. 



