Chemistry and Physics. 



429 



not hitherto employed. These are the double red line of potas- 

 sium, of wave-lengths 0-770 and 0*767 pi, and the 6 line of hydro- 

 gen, coinciding with the Fraunhofer line h, and of wave-length 

 0*4101 pi. In order to obtain the necessary brightness, the potas- 

 sium bead was made of a mixture of potassium perchl orate and 

 chloride ; and it was placed at the point of the reduction-cone of 

 the Bunsen flame. For the H^ line, end-on spectrum tubes were 

 employed, the light being bright enough to show even H e Be- 

 sides these lines, those of lithium, sodium and thallium were also 

 used, and the lines H a Hg and H y in addition. A Fuess spectro- 

 meter reading to thirty seconds was employed, the minimum- 

 deviation adjustment being secured for each kind of light and for 

 each temperature. The following are the results obtained, each 

 value being the mean of a series of measurements which the 

 author believes correct to the fourth decimal place at least : 



Temp. 



K 



1-32888 

 1-32881 

 1-32852 



19-9' 

 23-7' 

 25-3 ( 



260° 



27-0° 1-32830 133033 



Li 



1-33088 

 1-33077 

 133041 



1-33120 

 1-33091 



1-33050 



Na 



1-33305 

 1-33280 

 1-33249 



Tl 



1-33493 

 1-33468 

 1-33447 



1-33428 



H /3 



1-33720 



1-33692 



1-33625 



H y 



1-34045 

 1-34016 



Hd 

 1-34239 



These results are compared with those obtained by v. d. Wil- 

 ligen, Landolt, Wtillner and Riihlmann for all the lines except 

 K a and H^ and show a close accordance. — JBer. Berl. Chem. Ges., 

 xxiv, 644, Mch. 1871. G. f. b. 



9. Genesis of the Elements. — Professor William Crookes closes 

 a most interesting address before the Institution of Electri- 

 cal Engineers on the subject " Electricity in transitu : from 

 plenum to vacuum," with the following remarks on the genesis 

 of the elements : — 



It is now generally acknowledged that there are several ranks 

 in the elemental hierarchy, and that besides the well-defined 

 groups of chemical elements, there are underlying sub-groups. 

 To these sub-groups has beeii given the name of "meta-elements." 

 The original genesis of atoms assumes the action of two forms of 

 energy working in time and space — one operating uniformly in 

 accordance with a continuous fall of temperature, and the other 

 having periodic cycles of ebb and swell, and intimately connected 

 with the energy of electricity. The centre of this creative force 

 in its journey through space scattered seeds, or sub-atoms, that 

 ultimately coalesced into the groupings known as chemical ele- 

 ments. At this genetic stage the new-born particles vibrating in 

 all directions and with all velocities, the faster-moving ones 

 would still overtake the laggards, the slower would obstruct the 

 quicker, and we should have groups formed in different parts of 

 space. The constituents of each group whose form of energy 

 governing atomic weight was not in accord with the mean rate 

 of the bulk of the components of that group, would work to the 

 outside and be thrown off to find other groups with which they 



