344 



SCIENCE, 



[N. S. Vol. XXIV. No. 611. 



ness are used in mounting objects for projec- 

 tion purposes, so that the projector may be 

 brought to the proper focus with the least 

 possible delay. 



To secure the best results it is evident that 

 the rotary stage must be accurately and 

 rigidly built, in order to secure precise double 

 centering of the object, and freedom from 

 vibration. Amon B. Plowman. 



Pittsburg, Kans. 



helium in natural gas. ' 



Some three years ago a strong flow of nat- 

 ural gas was struck at Dexter, Kans. Upon 

 the first attempt to utilize this, it was found 

 that it would burn with difficulty and that 

 only in previously heated enclosed space. Ex- 

 perience has so far improved the method of 

 handling the gas that at the present time it 

 is being successfully used for burning brick. 

 The whole difficulty is due to the fact that it 

 contains only a little over fifteen per cent, 

 of combustible constituents. The first publi- 

 cation upon this gas was a paper by 

 Haworth and McEarland, Science, Vol. 21, p. 

 191, in which they reported that it contained 

 in addition to a large amount of nitrogen 

 some inert residue. 



We have taken up the further investigation 

 of this gas and at the New Orleans meeting 

 of the association Dr. E. H. S. Bailey re- 

 ported for us that it contained 1.84 per cent, 

 of helium. The occurrence of such a large 

 percentage of helium in one of the gases of the 

 Kansas field has led us to the examination of 

 others. Up to the present time we have in- 

 vestigated some twenty samples from the most 

 widely separated points of this field and have 

 found helium in every case, but always in 

 much smaller amounts than at Dexter. From 

 the latter gas, we have with the aid of liquid 

 air extracted a very fair amount of helium. 



Accompanying the determination of helium, 

 we are making complete analyses of the gases 

 and shall have within a short time results from 

 thirty to forty samples covering in detail the 

 entire Kansas field as at present developed — 

 an area of some twelve thousand square miles. 

 The rather large number of analyses is re- 



quired because the gas is extremely varied in 

 its character. This is illustrated by the fact 

 that the wells at Arkansas City, less than 

 twenty miles from Dexter, yield more than 97 

 per cent, of combustible gases and only ,16 per 

 cent, of helium as compared with 15 per cent, 

 and 1.84 per cent., respectively, for these con- 

 stituents in the Dexter gas. Samples are also 

 being obtained from the other fields of the 

 country and the results from these will be 

 included in a detailed paper to be published 

 soon. 



As the gases are run through the analyses 

 spectral tubes are filled, and various residues 

 and fractions are saved with the intention of 

 subjecting them to a detailed spectroscopic 

 examination. So^me work of this kind has 

 already been done. 



We feel that we have here a very unusual 

 opportunity for obtaining helium in prac- 

 tically unlimited quantities, and as we have 

 worked out the details for its separation "we 

 shall have a large amount prepared and will 

 attempt its liquefaction. While the necessary 

 preparations are in progress we shall devote 

 ourselves to the spectroscopic work above men- 

 tioned. Hamilton P. Cady, 

 David -F. McFarland. 



The Univeesity of Kansas, Lawrence, 

 July 12, 1906. 



CURRENT NOTES ON METEOROLOGY. 



DR. HANN AND THE ' METEOROLOGISCHE 

 ZEITSCHRIFT.' 



The fortieth anniversary of Dr. Hann's 

 assumption of 'the editorship of the Meteor- 

 ologische Zeitschrift was fittingly observed by 

 the publication of a special nuraber of that 

 excellent journal, to which friends and col- 

 leagues contributed articles. The ' Hann- 

 Band ' numbers 404 pages ; contains 42 papers 

 by as many different writers, and has as a 

 frontispiece an engraved portrait of Dr. Hann. 

 An appropriate introduction, by Pernter and 

 Hellmann, refers to the remarkable work 

 v/hich Hann has done for his science in the 

 Zeitschrift. Among the papers, all of which 

 are of immediate importance, the following 

 are of most general interest: Paul Schreiber: 



