TEE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



559 



largest amount of work is being done 

 by the chemists, to whom the question 

 is of extraordinary interest as to 

 whether these substances are or are not 

 real chemical elements. Bela von 

 Lengyel, of Budapest, as Dr. Bolton ex- 

 plained, has attacked the problem from 

 the synthetic side, and by fusing in- 

 active barium nitrate with uranium ni- 

 trate, he has obtained a barium sulphate 

 which has more or less radio-activity. 

 From this he concludes it is probable 

 that the radio-activity is due rather to 

 a peculiar state of the barium than to a 

 new chemical element. On the other 

 hand, Becquerel has in a somewhat an- 

 alogous way mixed inactive barium 

 chlorid with uranium chlorid, and from 

 the solution has obtained likewise a 

 radio-active barium. But he finds that 

 the increased activity in the barium 

 salt is attended by a corresponding de- 

 crease in the radio-activity of the ura- 

 nium. Hence it cannot be settled from 

 these experiments whether the uranium 

 salts possess a radio-activity of their 

 own, which can by certain methods be 

 communicated to barium salts, or 

 whether the radio-activity is due to an 

 impurity in the uranium which has 

 thus far eluded isolation. 



The director of the Blue Hill Me- 

 teorological Observatory, Mr. A. Law- 

 rence Rotch, writes to 'Science' that the 

 highest previous kite-flight was ex- 

 ceeded on July 19, when, by means of 

 six kites attached at intervals to four 

 and three-quarters miles of steel wire, 

 the meteorograph was lifted 15,170 feet 

 above Blue Hill, or 15,800 feet above 

 the neighboring ocean. At the time 

 that the temperature was 78° near the 

 ground, it was about 30° at the highest 

 point reached, the air being very dry 

 and the wind blowing from the north- 

 west with a velocity of twenty-six miles 

 an hour. The altitude reached in this 

 flight probably exceeds the greatest 

 height at which meteorological observa- 

 tions have been made with a balloon in 

 America. The highest observations that 

 have been published were made by the 



late Professor Hazen, of the Weather 

 Bureau, in an ascent from St. Louis, 

 June 17, 1887, to a height of 15,400 feet. 



The U. S. consul at St. Gall, Mr. 

 Du Bois, sends to the Department of 

 State the following account of the trial 

 of the Zeppelin air-ship: At the invi- 

 tation of Count Zeppelin, I was present 

 at the trial ascent of his air-ship on the 

 afternoon of July 2, at Manzell, on Lake 

 Constance. At seven o'clock the great 

 ship, 407 feet long and 39 feet in diam- 

 eter, containing seventeen separate 

 balloon compartments filled with hy- 

 drogen gas, was drawn out of the bal- 

 loon house securely moored to the float. 

 At the moment of the ascent the wind 

 was blowing at a rate of about twenty- 

 six feet per second, giving the opera- 

 tors a good opportunity of testing the 

 ability of the air-wheels to propel the 

 great ship against the wind. The cigar- 

 shaped structure ascended slowly and 

 gracefully to about thirty feet above 

 the raft. The balances were adjusted 

 so as to give the ship an ascending di- 

 rection. The propellers were set in mo- 

 tion, and the air-ship, which has cost 

 considerably over $200,000, started 

 easily on its interesting trial trip. At 

 first the ship moved east against the 

 wind for about two miles, gracefully 

 turned at an elevation of about 400 feet, 

 and, making a rapid sail to the west- 

 ward for about five miles, reached an 

 altitude of 1,300 feet. It was then 

 turned and headed once more east, and, 

 traveling about a mile against the wind 

 blowing at the rate of twenty-six feet 

 per second, suddenly stopped; floating 

 slowly backwards three miles to the 

 west, it sank into the lake, the gon- 

 dolas resting safely upon the water. 

 The time of the trip was about fifty 

 minutes; distance traveled, about ten 

 miles; fastest time made, five miles in 

 seventeen and one-half minutes. The 

 cause of the sudden stoppage in the 

 flight of the ship was proved to be a 

 slight mishap to the steering apparatus, 

 but the colossus floated gently with the 

 wind until it settled upon the surface 



