THE GASES OF THE ATMOSPHEEE 137 



the earth. Krypton was what I called the gas I gave Crookes, 

 knowing the spectrum to point to something new. 587*49 is 

 the wave-length of the brilliant line. It is quite overwhelming 

 and beats argon. I telegraphed to Berthelot at once yesterday 

 ' Gas obtenu par moi clevite melange argon helium. Crookes 

 identifie spectre. Faites communication Academic lundi Ram- 

 say/ ... I have written Lord Rayleigh and I'll send a note to 

 the R.S. to-morrow, but it will be merely a claim for priority, 

 for there will be no meeting for a month." 



On the 27th March the Annual Meeting of the Chemical 

 Society, only two months after the great meeting of the 

 Eoyal Society, provided a fitting opportunity for com- 

 municating this remarkable discovery to English 

 chemists. The Faraday medal was first presented to 

 Lord Eayleigh and the usual course of proceedings 

 was then interrupted to allow Ramsay to make his 

 communication, which can only be described as start- 

 ling in its effect on the minds of all present. The Trans- 

 actions of the Society contain the following record of the 

 words spoken by Ramsay on this occasion : 



" In seeking a clue to compounds of argon I was led to repeat 

 experiments of Hillebrand on cleveite, which, as is well known, 

 when boiled with weak sulphuric acid, gives off a gas hitherto 

 supposed to be nitrogen. This gas proved to be almost free 

 from nitrogen ; its spectrum in a Pliicker tube showed all the 

 prominent argon lines, and in addition a brilliant line close to, 

 but not coinciding with, the D lines of sodium. There are, 

 moreover, a number of other lines, of which one in the green 

 blue is especially prominent. Atmospheric argon shows, besides, 

 three lines in the violet which are not to be seen, or if present, 

 are excessively feeble in the spectrum of the gas from cleveite. 



