424 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XVI. No. 402. 



ing to Riieker, that all matter is atomic in 

 plan, that it 'consists of discrete parts 

 capable of independent motions, ' * that the 

 atomic theory has a basis of fact. This 

 conclusion is regarded as positive and nec- 

 essary, whatever the characteristics of 

 those parts may prove to be. Such simple 

 facts probably led Lord Kelvin to con- 

 clude, as he wrote to Professor Plobnan, 

 "we may expect the time to come when we 

 may understand the nature of the atom. 

 With great regret I abandon the idea that 

 a mere configniration of motion suffices.'' f 



Wiedemann's deduction from his study 

 of the light from sodium vapor and incan- 

 descent platinum, that the energy needed 

 for producing 'pendulous movement' of 

 atoms or molecules giving light-effects must 

 be very insignificant in comparison with 

 the total energy employed, may throw some 

 light both on this question and on that re- 

 lating to the 'cheapest form of light.' 



It is by this scientific method of gradual 

 revelation of the secrets of nature and this 

 foresight of the coming knowledge, this 

 discovery of methods and this apprehension 

 of the continuity of law, that the chemist 

 has come to such perfection in the analysis 

 of all known substances and in the syn- 

 thesis of many valuable and useful com- 

 pounds ; as in his production of all the coal- 

 tar products, in the reinforcement of nature 

 in the production of artificial madder and 

 increasingly numerous lists of other ma- 

 terials of commerce. It is through this 

 art of revelation and of prophecy that the 

 physicist has shown the way to the engi- 

 neer in the utilization of electrical energy 

 and the distribution of light, power and in- 

 telligence, and has given the astronomer the 

 means of analysis of the most distant 

 stars and measiirement of their rate of ap- 

 proach or recession. Thus the geologist 



* President's address before the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, 1901. 



t Science, .June 22. 1900, p. 988, E. H. Hall. 



learns the history of the earth, the lesson 

 of its construction and the tale of a com- 

 ing time of progressive decline in all its 

 forms of life, and even roughly computes 

 the past and the future period of its life, 

 from superheated to a cold and dead estate. 

 The building of a science gives progress to 

 civilization, reinforces real learning and 

 advances the individual man to higher life.* 

 R. H. Thurston. 



CORJS^ELL UNIVEESITT. 



(To be continued.) 



ON SOME REGENT ADVANCES IN THE FIBE- 

 PROOFINCr TREATMENT OF WOOD.t 



The saturation of wood with chemical 

 solutions has mainly two objects in view, 

 either to prolong the life of the wood by 

 rendering it as resistant as possible to de- 

 cay, or to make it resistant to the attack of 

 fire and to cause it when exposed to flame 

 to carbonize as slowly as possible without, 

 of or from itself, contributing to the in- 

 crease of the flame. We will take up the 

 second of these two lines of treatment for 

 present discussion. 



The treatment of wood with a view of 

 making it fire-resistant is not a matter of 



* The use of the ' curve of progress ' some- 

 times finds curious and unexpected application. 

 The study of the curve of progress of the speed 

 of the horse was years ago attempted by this 

 method, and it was found by the author of this 

 address that the ' two-minute horse ' might be 

 expected at about the commencement of the 

 twentieth century. Several periods of smooth 

 progress, broken, ' catastrophically,' by improve- 

 ments or by inventions, were observed, as when the 

 four-wheeled ' wagon ' was superseded by the 

 ' sulky ' and when the pneumatic tire was intro- 

 duced. In each curve the trend has, at the break, 

 become approximately asymptotic. The horse had 

 nearly reached his limit and the reduction of load 

 was the only recourse, in further promotion of 

 progress. — Soi. American Supplement, December 1, 

 1894. 



f Kead before Section C of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science, Pitts- 

 burgh meeting, June, 1902. 



