;52 



ARGON. A NEW CONSTITUENT OF THE ATMOSI'HEHE. 



reganl it therefore Jis uot improbable that the residual gas from the atmosphere, 

 which we have up to now termed "argon,'' maybe in reality a mixture of two 

 gases, which have not as yet been se[)arated. Should this hypothesis turn out to 

 be correct on further examination, we propose for the name of the second gas 

 " apathes," both words suggesting inactivity; that these names are justified will 

 appear wlien the attempts to ft)rm compounds of the gases are described. For 

 the present, however, we shall term the gas, or the mixture, "argon." 



It was found [)0ssible by Mi-. Ciookes to paitially separate the spectra by 

 directing the slit of the spectroscope at one end of the capillary tube. He has 

 kindly furnished us with the following table of approximate wave-lengths. The 

 numbers indicate the relative intensity of the lines, 10 denoting a line of maximum 

 brightness. The results ai-e the means of three sets of very concordant measure- 



meuts, 



-TTT 



jli 



ntt-T 



"iW" 



~m 



Li HQ Hf NAHg 



h|tl 



Fig. 6. 



^W 



I. 

 Red. 



( + ) 



609 .9' 

 605.8 

 604.4 

 603. 2 

 592.6 



59° • 9 

 588.7' 



585-8 



583.4 



580.3 



577-1 



574-6 



568.5' 



564-5 



n. 



Blue. 



(-) 



Cl 2.0 



605.8 

 604.4 

 603. 2 

 592.6 



590-9 

 58S.7 



577-1 

 574-6 



564-5 



' Centre of a hazy band, probably resolvable. 

 ' Sharp edge of wide line extending to 588.0. 

 ' Hazy line. 



1. 

 Red. 

 ( + ) 



561.0 

 556-7 

 555-8 

 552-0 

 550-1 

 549 8 

 545-6 

 544-6 

 542-1 



525-8 

 521.5 

 519-2 

 516.1 



506. 2 

 501-4 



II. 

 Blue. 

 (-) 



561.0 

 5567 

 555-8 



550-1 

 549-8 

 545-6 



542-1 

 52.S.9 



525-8 



521-5 



516. 1 

 5'4-o 

 506.2 



501-4 

 500.7 



II. 



