SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



them with different frequencies or voltages. It is a game 

 of blindman's buff. As yet they cannot foretell the 

 results. The men doing this work are as excited as a 

 terrier at a woodchuck hole, digging frantically, but 

 doing very little barking. 



"Honestly, we don't know anything yet," protested 

 one of the heads of these researches, "but we do believe 

 that we have a big idea by the throat." 



He went on to explain, "The atom isn't simply a speck 

 of indivisible matter. It is an infinitely small electrical 

 system at the center of which is a positively charged 

 nucleus around which a varying number of negatively 

 charged electrons revolve at dizzy speed. The molecules 

 are combinations of these electrical systems. Attacked 

 by electricity, they break up into new combinations. 

 We don't know why or wherefore; we can't foretell 

 results. A vast amount of pure research in subatomic 

 chemistry must be completed before the new textbooks 

 can be written, but we are playing with a new way of 

 inducing chemical reactions that I believe will lead us 

 to a brand-new type of chemical manufacturing." 



As a practical chemical-making tool this stunning new 

 technique is still largely in the future. But a new chem- 

 ical raw material is today abundantly available in the 

 South. Its implications are as astonishing as the new 

 technique. Its application is already a dollars-and-cents 

 fact. 



As the exploring drills have bored deeper and deeper 

 258 



