274 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
edly to be found in the arrangement of the strata, and the few 
marked exceptions to this regularity are explainable by the 
presence of unusual formations at the points where the excep- 
tions occur. But this is a matter that is more in the province 
of the geologist than in that of the chemist. 
The fact that our analyses have shown helium in all but one 
of the gases examined from various parts of the United States, 
together with numerous reports of helium having been found in 
the gases from mineral waters,'** leads us to believe that he- 
lium may be found in greater or less quantities in all gases 
issuing from the earth, and that, like many other so-called rare 
elements, it is really of very wide distribution. 
Since Ramsey and Soddy’s demonstration of the transforma- 
tion of radium emanation into helium!® and Strutt’s work!® 
showing the very wide distribution of minute percentages of 
radium in various rocks and soils, it would, of course, occur to 
every one that perhaps the helium in natural gases came from 
the transformation of the emanation derived from the radium. 
While the percentage of radium is exceedingly small, the aggre- 
gate amount. is sufficient, granting the transformation, to ac- 
count for all the helium, provided that sufficient time is given. 
Since Ramsey! has shown that radium emanation in the pres- 
ence of water is transformed into neon, and in the presence of 
copper salts into argon, these latter gases present in natural 
gas may have had their origin in radium as well as the helium. 
If the helium comes from the radium, the percentage of he- 
lium in the gas should be proportional to the age of the gas, the 
radium content of the contributing strata, and inversely pro- 
portional to the total quantity of gas. Of course, many other 
factors would enter into the consideration of this question, such 
as the rate of diffusion of helium and the accompanying gases, 
and the fact that the age of the gas cannot always be judged 
by the age of the strata in which it is found, its position being 
164. Rayleigh, Chem. News, 72, 223 (1895); 738, 247 (1896); Zentralblatt, 1895, [2] 
1112; 1896, [2] 147. Hi. Kayser, Chem. News, 72, 89 (1895); Chem.-Ztg., 19, 1549 
(1805). Bouchard and Troost, Compt. rend., 127, 392 (1895); Zentralblatt, 1895, [2] 
710. Moureu, Compt. rend., 121, 819 (1895); 135, 1835 (1902). FE. Pesendorfer, 
Chem.-Ztg., 29, 359 (1905). R. Nasini, Atti accad. Lincei (5) 13, 1, 217, 367 (1904); 
Zentralblatt, 1904, [1] 1190; [2] 77. Prytz and Thorkelsson. Kgl. Danske Videnski 
Selsk Forh. 1905, 317; Zentralblatt, 1905, [2] 1570. Hwers, Physik. Z., 7, 224 
(1906); Zentralblatt, 1906, [1] 1819. Moureu and Biquard, Compt. rend., 143, 795 
(1906); Zentralblatt, 1907, [1] 500. Moureu, Compt. rend., 142, 1155 (1906); Zen- 
tralblatt, 1906, [2] 156. ; 
165. Pr. Roy. Soc. London, 72, 204 (19038); 73, 346 (1904). 
166. Chem. News, 93, 235 (1906). 
167. Jour. of Chem. Soe., cx, 1593-1606. 1907. 
