46 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
small particle of a crystal of the substance is dropped into the solution, anda 
crystal at once begins to grow about this as a center, just as the feathers accumu- 
lated about the tangled hair as a center. How very minute, though, must be the 
meshes to entrap the first molecule! 
Another analogous aggregation is the condensation of moisture about dust 
particles in the atmosphere, thus starting the formation of the fog or cloud vesi- 
cles from which grow the raindrops. By the same principle a thin film of mois- 
ture is collected on every surface, no matter how dry apparently it may be; and 
each surface has its own entrapping power, from that of a quartz crystal where 
the film is inconceivably small, to the hygroscopic surface of a calcium chloride 
crystal where the accumulation of water is so rapid as to become visible in a few 
seconds. 
Now, may we not go a step further and look for an analogous structure in the 
molecule? The theory of the molecule is that it is an aggregate of atoms sus- 
pended in an agitated medium —the ether. By the vibrations continually run- 
ning through the ether the atoms are crowded to centers, thus constituting 
molecules. The nature of the molecule will depend upon the size, form, and 
weight of the atoms. These are fixed qualities of the atom; hence the resultant 
molecules are always the same. The apparent exceptions in the case of the allo- 
tropic forms of carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus may be explained by several 
arrangements being possible, though some particular one is more likely than 
another, as in the case of pyrite, which commonly occurs in cubes though some- 
times in octahedral and dodecahedral forms. By such an hypothesis we have an 
explanation of chemical affinity. Chemical affinity under this view is a driving 
of such atoms together which most perfectly fit together in the molecule. Should 
another set of atoms as a reagent be introduced, they may be so constituted as to 
fit more perfectly with the present set than these do among themselves, and at 
once a reaction takes place, with a new arrangement as a result. Possibly the 
tendency toward rearrangement is too feeble to produce any result under the or- 
dinary disturbances of the ether, and some special vibrations must be introduced, 
as when chlorine is helped to decompose water in sunlight. Here we may also 
find an explanation for chemical energy, by accounting for it as residing in the 
ether movement which binds the fitting atoms together into the symmetrical 
molecule. We can also account for the heat which results from chemical reac- 
tion by regarding it as the energy of the motion of the atoms as they come to- 
gether being transformed into the energy of agitation of the new molecules, which 
is heat. 
When the darkeys find feather balls in their pillows they believe that they 
have been hoodooed, and they find in the ‘‘ pillow-witches’’ an explanation of all 
their ills and misfortunes. Why should not the chemist find in them alsoa solu- 
tion to many of his perplexities. 
VARIATIONS IN THE NITROGEN-CONTENT OF MAIZE, AND 
POSSIBILITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF IT. ; 
BY J. T. WILLARD, MANHATTAN. 
Read before the Academy December 30, 1898. 
That plants vary, and that it is because of this variation that improvement is 
possible, is a fact known to every student of science. That chemical] differences 
should be present in individuals which present no external differences could not 
be assumed, and by many would not be suspected. Twelve years ago the author 
