CHEMISTRY. 



99 



about half the elements known to us have been 

 found to exist with more or less probability in 

 the sun. Comparing these with the elements in 

 Mendeleeff's periodic table, nearly all the most 

 positive elements appear to be present, while as 

 the elements become more negative fewer of 

 them are seen there. Hence a rule is supposed, 

 that as we pass from positive to negative ele- 

 ments their stability with regard to heat de- 

 creases proportionately as their negativity in- 

 creases. The table of the elements found in the 

 sun contains no non-metallic elements, unless we 

 except hydrogen. It is hence inferred that those 

 bodies, taken as a whole, are much less stable 

 with regard to heat than the metals ; and this 

 is borne out by what is otherwise known of their 

 behavior when subjected to moderately high 

 temperatures, when they all appear to possess 

 simpler molecules than at low temperatures. The 

 behavior of the gaseous molecules of the metals 

 that have been thus examined is different from 

 this. They have all, so far, been found to con- 

 tain only a single atom, whatever be the tem- 

 perature to which they are subjected. The met- 

 als thus examined are sodium, potassium, zinc, 

 cadmium, and mercury ; and all of these, except 

 mercury, have been found to exist in the sun. 

 In the case of the other metals it would proba- 

 bly be found, if their vapor densities were taken, 

 that the molecules of the more positive bodies 

 contain only one atom ; but that as they begin 

 to develop negative properties their molecules 

 will be more complex at lower than at higher 

 temperatures, thus indicating that at higher 

 temperatures still, such as that of the sun, they 

 would probably dissociate into still more simple 

 bodies or bodies more stable with regard to heat. 

 " An Inquiry into the Conditions which under- 

 lie Chemical Relat ions" was the subject of a paper 

 by Prof. A. A. Dolbear, at the American Associa- 

 tion. The author said that whenever a chemical 

 change takes place there is an exchange of ener- 

 gy, and the amount of energy is proportioned to 

 the weight of the substances involved. Heat may 

 be measured by foot-pounds, but heat consists 

 in vibratory atomic and molecular motions, and 

 hence the temperature of an atom is determined 

 by the amplitude of its vibrations. The vibratory 

 motions constituting its heat determine the exist- 

 ence of chemism, and its amount. " If we adopt 

 the vortex theory of atoms, which is that atoms 

 consist of vortex rings of ether in ether, it is 

 easy to see what the internal energy or vibratory 

 motion is ; for if such an atom vibrates at its 

 fundamental rate it will have four nodes and 

 two loops, the latter being the places of maxi- 

 mum vibration and the nodes of the least." The 

 author then showed how, upon this theory, atoms 

 attract to themselves other atoms, which vibrate 

 in harmony. Thus are built up molecules. When 

 the vibrations exceed a certain limit the atoms 

 are separated and dissociation occurs. Each 

 molecule has its special field of vibration, and 

 another body in that field will be compelled to 

 assume a certain position with reference to it. 

 " In conclusion, as each structure has its own 

 compelling field, it follows that the phenomenon 

 we call growth differs from the growth of crys- 

 tals in nothing but the complexity of the process, 

 and as each structure compels, in greater or less 

 degree, that the organization in its field be simi- 



lar to its own, the phenomena of heredity and of 

 variation in living things are traceable to the 

 mechanical conditions described." 



A "chemical atom" in the investigations of 

 Prof. A. Griinwald is none of the metaphysical 

 atoms hitherto admitted. In his theory it is a 

 complex of many movable particles, which are 

 elastic, but so intimately connected that no 

 chemical process we know of is capable of sever- 

 ing their union. Not even the parts of the atom 

 are conceived as immutable any more than the 

 atom itself, but they are regarded as capable 

 within finite limits of undergoing modifications 

 that have definite relations to their mutual reac- 

 tions. This view renders it intelligible that an 

 atom may have a spectrum consisting of numer- 

 ous rays of different wave lengths. This spec- 

 trum varies according to fixed laws, when the 

 chemical condition of the substance consisting 

 of such atoms and its relations to other sub- 

 stances vary. It is possible, and even probable, 

 that the particles of an atom are identical with 

 the particles of the ether, or with condensation 

 forms of the ether. 



The results of experimental researches by Dr. 

 Gr. Gore suggest that the chief physical and 

 chemical properties of substances may be to a 

 large extent represented by geometrical curves; 

 It appears from them that every different sub- 

 stance, when in aqueous solution, gives, by vary- 

 ing the degree of strength of its solution (or by 

 varying its temperature), a different curve of 

 electromotive force; that this curve is charac- 

 teristic of the substance ; that under these con- 

 ditions substances which constitute a recognized 

 chemical group yield a series of curves which 

 usually exhibit a* gradation of likeness of form; 

 that the degrees of electromotive force of such a 

 group usually vary in magnitude inversely as the 

 amounts of the atomic or molecular weights of the 

 substances; that a much greater increase of elec- 

 tromotive force is usually caused by the first 

 amount of substance added to the water than 

 by the subsequent amounts; that the chemical 

 union of two substances to form a soluble salt 

 is attended by a definite decrease of electromo- 

 tive force and a definite change of form of curve ; 

 that the substitution of one halogen acid or 

 metallic base for another in the composition of 

 a soluble electrolytic salt, is accompanied by a 

 definite amount of change of that force and 

 of the form of its curve; and it will probably 

 be possible to trace, by means of these changes, 

 the presence of each halogen acid and metal in 

 the various solutions of its salts ; that isomeric 

 solutions of electrolytic substances give different 

 curves under the. same conditions, and may thus 

 be distinguished from each other ; that molecu- 

 lar and chemical changes and their rates in 

 electrolytes may be examined and measured by 

 this method. 



Chemical Physics. The chemical changes 

 which may take place in rocks under mechanical 

 stresses, as they have been established by direct ex- 

 periment and have been illustrated in observations 

 of the minute structure of rocks, are described by 

 Prof. J. W. Judd in twelve propositions, which 

 may be summarized as follow : 1. In all those cases 

 in which crystallization is accompanied by con- 

 traction the tendency of pressure is to promote 

 the change from an amorphous to a crystalline 



