THE GASES OF THE ATMOSPHEEE 141 



" But the researches on which the award of the Davy Medal 

 to Professor Eamsay is chiefly founded are, firstly, those which 

 he has carried on, in conjunction with Lord Rayleigh, in the 

 investigation of the properties of argon, and in the discovery of 

 improved and rapid methods of getting it from the atmosphere ; 

 and, secondly, the discovery in certain rare minerals of a new 

 elementary gas which appears to be identical with the hitherto 

 hypothetical solar element, to which Mr. Lockyer many years 

 ago gave the name of ' helium.' . . . 



The conferring of the Davy Medal on Professor Ramsay is a 

 crowning act of recognition of his work on argon and helium 

 which has already been recognised as worthy of honour by 

 scientific societies in other countries. For his discoveries on 

 these gases he has already been awarded the Foreign Member- 

 ship of the Societe Philosophique de Geneve and of the Leyden 

 Philosophical Society. He has had the Barnard Medal of the 

 Columbia College awarded to him by the American Academy 

 of Sciences, and within the last few weeks he has been 

 elected a Foreign Correspondent of the French Academic des 

 Sciences." 



The novel characters of the gases, helium and argon, 

 led to great activity in the scientific world, and for a 

 time the journals were filled with speculations as to 

 their origin, their atomic constitution, their recognition 

 in the earth's atmosphere and in the heavenly bodies, 

 and their position in the scheme of known elements. 

 The excitement extended beyond scientific circles, and 

 all sorts of amateur physicists plunged into extravagant 

 hypotheses as to the functions of argon in nature. Even 

 young students were infected with the epidemic, and the 

 answers to examination questions showed that oxygen 

 as a constituent of our air was almost forgotten in the 



