MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 401 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER, AND ITS RELATION 

 TO TREE GROWTH. 



By Bernard B. Smyth, Topeka, Kan. 



Read before the Academy, at Topeka, December 29, 1904. 



CONSTITUENTS OF WATER. 



'T^EXT-BOOKS on chemistry and physics give us the quantity of 

 -■- hydrogen and of oxygen it takes to constitute a molecule of wa- 

 ter; but they do not tell us what part of a millidyne of potential 

 energy, how many millionths of a microcalory of latent heat, what 

 fraction of a millimicrofarad of static electricity, enter into its 

 make-up. It is certain, however, that light, heat, electricity, and other 

 forms of radiant energy, are all stored up in measurable quantities in 

 that same little molecule of water. These are physical elements, and 

 are just as essential to the formation of water as are the chemical ele- 

 ments hydrogen and oxygen. These factors are all essential elements 

 in the constitution of water, and both physical and chemical elements 

 are transferred according to fixed laws to other forms of matter. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER. 



Water is the great universal solvent of nature. It dissolves and 

 combines with nearly everything in nature, though with varying de- 

 grees of force. It has in all cases an ameliorating, a softening, a dis- 

 solving influence. Even the hardest rocks finally succumb to its 

 persistent and powerful attacks. Naturally all substances do not yield 

 with equal alacrity to its magic influence. Some substances even 

 have an antipathy for water. Oil, for instance, resists successfully its 

 most powerful onslaughts. And yet water can, with time, destroy an 

 oil film ; and in combination with or in presence of other substances, 

 as alcohol, for example, may destroy and absorb the oil itself. 



Water is also a ready absorbent of odors and gases. It thus be- 

 comes the great purifier of nature. 



Pure water is neutral. It is neither acid nor alkaline. It of itself 

 it has neither taste, odor, nor color. All these are readily imparted to 

 it by the substances it holds in solution. Therein lies the secret of 

 good cooking. Taste, odor or flavor, and color are all imparted to it 

 at will. 



Water at one place dissolves minerals and takes them up ; runs to 

 another carrying the minerals with it ; is evaporated and dried up, 

 leaving the minerals behind ; returns empty-handed to the starting- 

 point in the form of vapor ; is there reconverted into water ; returns to 

 the earth and repeats the performance. 

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