THE CHALLENGE OF STAS. l8f 



XX. Since now the otherwise exacting Stasians have 

 not yet decided which atoms of nitrogen are the true ones, 

 those merely " dried" or the lighter "/used" ones;* 



And since it always has been our desire to help the 

 Stasians out of their holes (even if four thousand meters 

 deep) ; we shall suggest, that 



they use 360 grammes of silver^ 



follow exactly the method of their master Stas; and will 

 then find N = 14 exactly. 



And as then there is no further difference of opinion 

 possible, we shall beg their kind permission to close this little 

 chapter on the challenge of Stas to the chemists of the world. 



Postscriptum. I am sure ordinary wide-awake readers, 

 such as our common American students, who have not worn 

 out the seats of too great a number of pants at school, will 

 have taken note of the delectably minute (i probable error" 

 of the Stasian value for nitrogen, and found a great deal of 

 innocent amusement in comparing this minute probable 

 error with the colossal range of the values found ; but I fear 

 my Stasian readers have overlooked this and hence the 

 necessity for this postscript. 



The probable error, according to Clarke is 21, according 

 to Ostwald is 37 units in the fourth place ; the mean is 29, 

 that is, 0.0029, for which I think we may be pardoned to put 

 0.003 or 3 thousandths. 



The actual range we found 0.07, which is fully 23 times 

 the probable error. 



The total number of determinations being 7 out of the 8 

 made (No. 7 excluded by Stas), and the square root of 7 

 being 2%, very nearly, the probable error of the mean, 



* I greatly dislike foot-notes, as well as crooked things generally. 



But I have called attention to the private letter of Stas to Van der 

 Plaats on this subject in my True Atomic Weights, p. 86, which private 

 letter of Stas was published as to its main contents by Van der Plaats in 

 his paper in the Annales de Chimie, VII, p. 518; 1886, as I stated with 

 special reference to volume and page. Also Comptes Rendus, no, 

 p. 1363 ; 1893. 



IP Crookes' editorial of 1896 he makes it appear that I have drawn 

 into print a private letter of Stas! It is really difficult to find words to 

 condemn such crooks! 



