SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



26 appear to be common to both spectra. The 

 disappearance of the red glow and the appearance 

 of the blue glow in argon as the exhaustion increases 

 also resembles the disappearance of the red line of 

 hydrogen when exhaustion is raised to a high point. 



•' I have prepared tubes containing other gases 

 as well as nitrogen at different pressures, and have 

 examined their spectra both by eye observations 

 and by photography. The sharp line spectrum of 

 nitrogen is not nearly so striking in brilliancy, 

 number or sharpness of lines as are those of argon, 

 and the most careful scrutiny fails to show any 

 connection between the spectra. I can detect no 

 lines in common. Between the spectra of argon 

 and the band spectrum of nitrogen there are two 

 or three close approximations of lines, but a pro- 

 jection on the screen of a magnified image of the 

 two spectra partly superposed will show that two 

 at least of these are not really coincidences. 



" I have found no other spectrum-giving gas or 

 vapour yield spectra at all like those of argon, and 

 the apparent coincidences in some of the lines, 

 which on one or two occasions are noticed, have 

 been very few, and would probably disappear on 

 using a higher dispersion. Having once obtained 



a tube of argon giving the pure spectra, 1 can 

 make no alteration in it, other than what I have 

 explained takes place on varying the spark or 

 increasing the exhaustion, when the two spectra 

 change from one to the other. As far, therefore, 

 as spectrum work can decide, the verdict must, I 

 think, be that Lord Rayleigh and Professor Ramsay 

 have added one, if not two, members to the family 

 of elementary bodies." 



The remarkable discovery made by Lord Rayleigh 

 and Professor William Ramsay opens up a new 

 field for investigation, the extent of which cannot 

 even be conjectured ; it is one from which the 

 most important results may be expected in the 

 future. Few subjects have created a more wide- 

 spread interest than has this discover}', not only in 

 scientific circles, but among the general public. 

 Excellent accounts have appeared about it in some 

 of our daily papers, but by far the best was that in 

 "Nature," of February 7th last, in which number 

 appeared also a leading article describing the origin 

 of the discovery. J. T. C. 



ABNORMAL ASH PLANT. 



T Tl 7E have received from Lieut. -Col. Blathwayt, 

 " of Batheaston, a photograph of an abnor- 

 mal growth of ash, which we have reproduced in the 

 hope of some discussion and elucidation of the 

 causes of these growths. He says in his letter: 

 "The interesting notice in the February number of 

 Science-Gossip on Professor Hartig's ' Text-Book 

 of the Diseases of Trees,' put me in mind of a 

 curious abnormal 

 growth on an ash 

 tree (Fraxinns excel- 

 sior) which I found 

 in a hedge-row some 

 years ago. It was 

 a young shoot about 

 five feet long, grow- 

 ing from the base 

 of a young tree that 

 had been cut close 

 to the ground, and 

 which, at about 

 eighteen inches from 

 the top, suddenly 

 turned in a spiral, 

 making three com- 

 plete turns and a 

 half. Just below 



where the first turn commenced the stem 

 began to flatten out forming a kind of wing, and 

 this flattening extended to bark, wood and pith. 

 Below the curve the stem was half an inch thick, 

 and at the first turn the width had reached three- 

 quarters of an inch, increasing gradually up to the 

 growing point, at which the width was an inch 

 and a half, the thickness diminishing in proportion. 



Abnormal growth of Ash. 



On the flattened side there were several notches 

 which looked something like cuts made by a knife ; 

 but their position was such that they could not have 

 been thus caused unless the curving and flattening 

 of the stem had taken place after the shoot had 

 almost attained its present length, which is most 

 improbable. I enclose a photograph of the branch 

 two-thirds natural size." We might remind our 



readers that obser- 

 vations of this 

 character, though at 

 one time slighted by 

 those who only took 

 interest in normal 

 types and sneered at 

 " freaks," ma}' lead 

 to much collateral 

 evidence. The re- 

 markable book on 

 " Materials for the 

 Study of Variation," 

 by Mr. William 

 Bateson, which we 

 reviewed in the last 

 volume of Science- 

 Gossip, has drawn 

 attention to sports 

 in Nature. We hear that Mr. Bateson has in 

 hand a similar work on plants, so that material such 

 as Colonel Blathwayt now brings forward cannot 

 fail to be of service to him and those who are 

 working in his field of inquiry. This will be 

 especially valuable if accompanied by correct 

 pictures and exact descriptions of the surroundings 

 and probable causes of the particular sport discussed . 



