Amjime,ri9Pi3arm"}      What  the  Atmosphere  is  Made  of.  259 
methods  were  devised  which  would  effect  this  end  till  it  was  con- 
sumed. Means  of  testing  were  always  possible  and  the  speaker 
showed  how  in  the  successive  devices  there  were  improvements. 
It  was  evident  after  a  while  that  there  was  an  unconsumed  residue, 
and  this  was  argon. 
Incidentally  the  lecturer  told  that  he  had  taken  magnesium 
for  the  selective  material  from  the  fact  that  in  the  old  experiment 
when  it  was  burned  in  a  close  crucible  there  was  the  odor  of 
ammonia  showing  combination  with  the  nitrogen  of  the  air.  In  the 
later  experiments,  a  mixture  of  lime  and  magnesium  has  been 
substituted  for  the  magnesium  chips.  He  noted  that  when  the 
experiments  were  under  way  the  announcement  of  the  offering  of 
the  prize  from  the  Hodgkins  fund  in  the  possession  of  the  Smiths- 
onian Institution  was  made.  He  spoke  of  this  to  Lord  Rayleigh, 
suggesting  to  him  to  try  for  it,  but  the  latter  would  do  nothing  by 
himself  and  made  Ramsay  take  common  cause  with  him. 
In  August,  1894,  the  announcement  of  the  discovery  of  the  new 
gas  was  made  to  the  British  Association.  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  was 
present  and  said,  "  These  young  men  have  discovered  something 
that  is  new ;  have  they  also  discovered  its  name  ? "  A  name 
was  therefore  sought,  and  since  the  gas  was  inert,  the  text,  "  Why 
stand  ye  here  all  the  day  idle?"  was  suggested.  Argon  is  the 
neuter  of  the  Greek  word,  idle,  in  this  phrase. 
The  argon  story  of  Sir  William  Ramsay,  quietly  and  modestly 
told,  was  a  key  to  the  supreme  scientific  character  of  this  leader 
in  chemistry,  for  it  showed  his  resources  as  well  as  his  patient 
care  and  industry  in  trying  thousands  of  experiments  and  one  could 
see  the  acute  inventive  mind  working  all  the  time  to  evolve  new 
processes  or  simplify  and  perfect  those  already  known. 
One  fact  that  puzzled  the  discoverers  of  argon  was  the  fact 
that  its  spectrum  was  subject  to  variations,  and  these  were  so 
curious  that  it  was  suggested  that  here  might  be  a  triad  of  gases 
and  the  names,  Anglium,  Scotium  and  Hibernium  were  even  sug- 
gested for  them.  But  the  investigators  worked  on  trying  for  results 
instead  of  anticipating  them  by  processes  of  guessing.  How  to  get 
more  argon,  how  best  to  produce  it  and  with  what  substance 
would  it  combine  were  the  lines  of  research.  First  of  all,  typical 
animal  and  vegetable  sources  were  tested  to  see,  of  course,  whether 
some  substance  richer  in  argon  than  the  atmosphere  could  be  found. 
Mineral  waters  were  also  tried  and  it  was  finally  concluded  that 
