264 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
ally free from helium is obtained. The identity of the neon 
was established by measuring the wave-lengths of the lines in 
the spectrum, using the above-described spectrometer and com- 
paring them with those given by Baly.'*! Baly photographed 
something over a hundred lines in the visible portion of the 
spectrum. About half of these lines are given as very faint. 
We have measured optically about sixty-five of these lines, in- 
cluding all but the very faintest. The measurements, with one 
exception, agree with Baly’s to within one Angstrém unit. In 
this case it is quite evident that there is a misprint in Baly’s 
table, for our measurement agrees well with that given by Liv- 
ing and Dewar!” for this line, while it differs from Baly’s by 
much more than the limit of error. 
Besides the lines of neon, the tubes show about fifteen fairly 
strong lines which do not seem to belong to hydrogen, helium, 
or any of the familiar gases. These lines are given in a list of 
lines shown by the more volatile gases of the atmosphere and 
by the gases from Bath Springs, as published by Living and 
Dewar (loc. cit.) This would seem to show that the lines are 
not accidental, and that it is legitimate to look for a new very 
volatile gas in this residue. 
DETECTION OF ARGON. 
Since argon has a higher boiling-point than liquid air it is 
almost entirely condensed in the first bulb of the above appa- 
ratus with the methane of the gas. Consequently no argon can 
be detected by the use of this apparatus. The method which 
we have thus far utilized for determining its presence is as 
follows: The incombustible nitrogenous residue from the gas 
is first nearly freed from nitrogen by passing over a mixture 
of metallic magnesium and calcium oxid in a tube heated to 
high redness. The residue is completely freed from nitrogen 
by sparking with pure oxygen over a potassium hydroxid solu- 
tion. After removing the oxygen from the gas thus left by in- 
troducing pellets of phosphorus, the residue, which now con- 
tains only gases of the argon group, is introduced into a cocoa- 
nut charcoal bulb which has been previously completely freed 
from gases by heating it to a rather high temperature and ex- 
hausting with the mercury-pump. The bulb is cooled with 
liquid air and after the gases have been in contact with the 
161. Phil. Trans., 1904, vol. 202, p. 183. 
£62, Proc. Roy. Soc., 67, 467, 1901. 
