776 



SCIENCE. 



N.S. Vol. VIII. No. 205. 



the name ' neon,' or ' the new one,' has been 

 given, is, as in the cases of helium and 

 argon. If ; like them, too, it resists combi- 

 nation with other elements, and possesses a 

 brilliant and characteristic spectrum. 



This account of the fulfilment of a predic- 

 tion has, I am afraid, been somewhat elabo- 

 rate for the general reader ; but it is inter- 

 esting as a case of discovery, where many 

 lines of evidence, founded on the work of 

 many diiferent observers, have led to the 

 foreseen conclusion. It possesses, to my 

 mind at least, some of the qualities of a 

 scientific poem — an orderly arrangement of 

 ideas, drawn from many different sources, 

 each throwing light on the other, and all 

 tending towards a final event. It is true 

 that the subject is not one to which poetical 

 diction can be applied with advantage ; the 

 details are too complicated, too unfamiliar, 

 and to be expressed only in language which 

 has not received the impress of poetical 

 tradition; but to enlarge on this would open 

 a wide field of discussion, in which aesthetics, 

 a subject not as yet reduced to accurate 

 formulation, and perhaps hardly susceptible 

 of treatment by scientific methods, would 

 form the chief theme. 



In epic poems the ' argument ' usually 

 precedes the matter. Here it may be con- 

 venient to reverse the order and to sum up 

 the preceding pages by the argument. We 

 have seen, then, that the discovery, by Lord 

 Rayleigh, of a discrepancy in the density of 

 atmospheric nitrogen has resulted in the 

 discovery of anew constituent of air — argon; 

 its discovery has led to that of a constituent 

 of the solar atmosphere, helium ; specula- 

 tions on the ultimate nature and motion of 

 the particles of which it is believed that 

 gases consist has provoked the considera- 

 tion of the conditions necessary in order 

 that planets and satellites may retain an 

 atmosphere, and of the nature of that atmo- 

 sphere ; the necessary existence of an un- 

 discovered element was foreseen, owing to 



the usual regularity in the distribution of 

 the atomic weights of elements not being 

 attained in the case of helium and argon ; 

 and the source of neon was, therefore, indi- 

 cated. This source, atmospheric air, was 

 investigated, and the missing element was 

 discovered. A new fact has been added to 

 science, and one not disconnected from 

 others, but one resulting from the converg- 

 ance of many speculations, observations 

 and theories, brought to bear on one an- 

 other. 



William Eamsay. 



ON SOME ANALOGIES BETWEEN THE PHYS- 

 IOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF LACK OF OXY- 

 GEN, HIGH TEMPERATURE AND 

 CERTAIN POISONS. 



One of the striking characteristics of vital 

 phenomena, from a chemical standpoint, is 

 the comparatively low temperature at 

 which oxidations take place. Among the 

 more commonly accepted theories which 

 try to account for this fact is that of Hoppe- 

 Seyler. Hoppe-Seyler found that in case 

 of putrefaction reducing substances, such 

 as nascent hydrogen, are formed. These 

 reducing substances, if atmospheric oxy- 

 gen is present, attack the molecule of 

 oxygen, taking one atom to themselves 

 ■ and setting free one atom. This free atom 

 of oxygen, being in an active state, is 

 able to bring about the oxidations charac- 

 teristic of living organisms. 



According to Hoppe-Seyler's theory sim- 

 ilar fermentations take place in all liv- 

 ing matter whereby reducing substances 

 are formed. In case of lack of oxygen it 

 is clear that, while fermentation may go on, 

 the oxidation of the reducing substances 

 comes to a standstill. In this case the re- 

 ducing substances may attack other sub- 

 stances in the animal body, instead of oxy- 

 gen, and form compounds which may act 

 as poisons. 



It is a well-known fact that an increase 



