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SCIENCE. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



[ The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents. No notice is taken of anonymous communi- 

 cations.] 



THE FOURTH FORM OF MATTER. 

 To the Editor of Science : 



Science to-day recognizes but three iorms ot matter, 

 viz. : the solid, the liquid, and the gaseous ; though the 

 existence of another form still more tenuous than the 

 gaseous has been suspected by some distinguished men, 

 and among them Faraday, prince of scientists. 



Faraday, in 1819, delivered a series of lectures be- 

 fore the Royal Institution, on the general properties of 

 matter, in one of which, entitled, "On Radiant Matter," 

 he thus expressed himself : " If we conceive a change as 

 far beyond vaporization as that is above fluidity, and then 

 take into account also the proportioned increased extent of 

 alteration as the changes rise, we shall, perhaps, if we 

 can form any conception at all, fall not far short of 

 radiant matter." Later he pointed out that matter may 

 be classed under four states, viz. : solid, liquid, gaseous 

 and radiant, and demonstrated the probability of the ex- 

 istence of the last. So far went Faraday, and no one 

 who has ever attempted it has gone any farther. 



This " fourth " form can be accepted only upon a 

 demonstration that is beyond question or doubt. It 

 must be as positively distinct from the gaseous as that is 

 from the liquid, or as the liquid is from the solid, and its 

 existence must be more than inferential or imaginary. 

 Its effects on a sufficiently large scale, must be seen or 

 felt. Then will men recognize it as the " border-land " 

 of matter, beyond which only spirit can be. 



That such a form of matter exists can to-day be con- 

 fidently asserted, for modern science is demonstrating it 

 in many ways. Around and about us, and known to all 

 men, is an element that apparently satisfies every require- 

 ment ; an element more efficient than steam, vapor, or 

 gas ; having numerous and varying forms, and with as 

 many names ; an element that is generically called elec- 

 tricity. It is the chief study of scientific men at present. 

 It is matter ; subtle, swift, powerful, manifold in opera- 

 tions, invisible, and with the strange power of multifold 

 transformations. It passes as a substantial thunderbolt 

 at one moment, and at the next is diffused into almost in- 

 finite tenuity. In the electrical fireball it moves at times 

 slowly ; in the telegraph with inconceivable velocity ; in 

 the cyclone with utmost power and regularity ; and in 

 such incalculable phenomena as that of the Minnesota 

 flouring mills disaster, with marvelous explosiveness. As 

 radiant matter it is everywhere present, as far as we can 

 discover. Some idea of the ever-present and ever-ready 

 state of this element is conveyed in the fact that not only 

 every body and substance, but almost every method of 

 dealing with substance manifests its presence. Earth in 

 every part, and air, are pervaded by this mighty universal 

 power, strong as gravity itself. 



Prof. William E. Crookes, of the Royal Society, 

 London, has sought for this kind of matter " in the 

 shadowy realm between the known and unknown," which 

 for him, he says, " has always had peculiar temptations." 

 The shadowy realm of imagination cannot be fruitful 

 in furnishing the substantial and reliable data required in 

 scientific investigation. He has, however, inadvertently 

 contributed to the resources of science by exhibiting some 

 striking experiments that show the peculiar action of 

 electricity in vacuo. In claiming to have discovered his 

 " fourth form," in the imagined play of imaginary mole- 

 cules or atoms, while at the same time having in use an 

 electric battery, competent to all the phenomena, he ap- 

 pears to rather speculate than reason. As well claim 

 thai the spirits are at work in his tubes. Electricity in 

 th»S case appears too subtle for its master. 



It is, therefore, to the radiant, all-pervasive electrical 

 or magnetic matter, that we must look for a candidate 

 for the high honor. Faraday's classification may 

 henceforth stand as legitimate, viz. : solid, liquid, gaseous, 

 radiant. The latter may be considered as dominating 

 and interpenetrating all the rest. It is the form in which 

 hfe and motion reside, or through which they are com- 

 municated. Electricity now appears to be the underlying 

 form, or substratum, out of which come light, heat, mag- 

 netism, gravity, etc., and recent experiments of Edison, 

 Bell, Coulon, and others show the fact that most 

 wonderful transmutations belong to this matter of the 

 " radiant form." 



It may be said that scientists are not altogether agreed 

 as to the materiality of electricity, yet it is material to the 

 consciousness of every thoughtful man. But, if matter, 

 to which of the forms does it belong, solid, liquid, or gas ? 

 or do we find it in all? Plainly it transcends in qualities 

 and powers each and all the recognized forms and is be- 

 yond their definition. No one would declare it to be 

 solid, nor would it be called gaseous, and though it may 

 pass under the definition, " A power in nature styled the 

 electric fluid," yet it is not scientific to call a fluid one of 

 the powers of nature. It were more satisfactory to rele- 

 gate it to the realm of spirit-force at once ; but what 

 scientist would do that? We shall yet find in a fourth or 

 radiant form, the true interpretation of all the most mys- 

 terious phenomena of matter. 



Henry Raymond Rogers, M.D., 

 Dunkirk, N. Y., Oct. n, 1880. 



COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



That the extinct fish-like reptiles known as Ichthyosauri, 

 in some cases, at least, produced living young, is the con- 

 clusion of a Report upon the subject to the recent meeting 

 of the British Association by Prof. Seeley, a brief abstract 

 of which is given in Nature for September 16. In several 

 specimens, notably those at Tubingen, the perfectly pre- 

 served young are enclosed within the ribs of the parent. In 

 estimating the zoological significance of viviparity it should 

 be borne in mind that while it is constant among the mam- 

 mals, some sharks are oviparous and others viviparous, 

 and that among serpents not only does this diversity of 

 function exist, but even some species seem to be variable 

 in this respect. B. G. W. 



m 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2.] Who first used the phrase " Foramen of Monro"? In 

 a paper entitled "The Foramina of Monro: Some Ques- 

 tions of Anatomical History," in the Boston Medical and 

 Surgical Journal lor August 12, Prof. B. G. Wilder demon- 

 strates, upon various lines of argument, that the foramina 

 were named in honor of Alexander Monro, secundus, and 

 not primus, as stated by some writers. It is now desirable 

 to ascertain by whom the name was introduced into the 

 anatomical vocabulary. Monro's " Observations upon the 

 Nervous System" was published in 1783, hence the phrase 

 must have originated at some later date. Medicus. 



A REMARKABLE solar protuberance was observed by M. 

 Thollon, on August 30, at the Paris Observatory. About 

 11 A.M. he saw it rise from the eastern limb, as a vertical, 

 thin, and very brilliant, luminous jet. The displacement of 

 the line in C in the spectroscope corresponded to a velocity 

 of 35 kilometres per second, and the protuberance rose to a 

 height equal to half the solar radius, or about 343,000 km. 

 After rising, it enlarged to prodigious dimensions, its 

 brightness sensibly diminishing especially near the base. 



By about 1 P.M. it had become hardly visible. A curious 

 1 1. 1 is, that while the lower and middle part of this protu- 

 berance gave ■> deviation of the line C towards the violet, 

 the top presented a nearly equal deviation towards the 

 red. 



