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ing the pressure increase in a constant volume. pointed out by previous workers, the hydrogen formed during the reaction does not appear as a gas but probably reduces formic acid. As the average of several determinations it is found that 2.21 quanta are required on the average to decompose one molecule of formic acid. A possible effect of dust is indicated as the above figure became 1.57 when dust was present. When only wavelengths longer than 300 m. are used the number of quanta per molecule is 3.25. Similar measurements were made on formic acid vapor. To measure the decomposition products, the vapor was condensed with liquid air and the gaseous products swept into a McLeod gauge with a Toeppler pump. The process was repeated until has no further pressure increase was noted. Addition of be carefully purified hydrogen showed that hydrogen was used up in this case also. The number of quanta required to make one molecule decompose in this case was 1.48. Measurements with the solid were inaccurate due to difficulty in determining the amount of reflected light. It is found that there is no obvious relationship between the energy required to decompose one molecule of liquid, the energy required to decompose one molecule of vapor and the heat of vaporization. Possible effects of the light in the two cases will be discussed.

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Electrochemical theory of oxidation and neutralization reactions: W. H. RODEBUSH. The electromotive series of the metals can be extended to include most of the elements and groups of inorganic and organic chemistry. The groups at one end of this series will be recognized as both strongly oxidizing and strongly acid forming. This is not a coincidence. These groups have a deficiency of negative electricity. This deficiency may be satisfied in three ways: (a) A hydrogen ion may be lost; (b) an electron may be acquired; (c) a neutral atom itself deficient in electrons may be given up. (a) is a typical neutralization reaction and (b) and (c) are characteristic oxidation reactions. Numerous examples can be cited.

Progress in the concentration of illinium: B. S. HOPKINS. Illinium was detected in portions of rare earth material that had been derived from monazite sand, the separation being accomplished by fractional crystallization mainly as double magnesium nitrates and as the bromates. The concentration obtained by these means, while adequate for identification, probably did not exceed one per cent. of illinium. Efforts are now being directed to increase the amount of illinium in various ways. (1) Fractionation as double magnesium nitrate and bromate is being applied to a large quantity of monazite residues. (2) Other methods of fractional crystallization are being used, such as the perchlorates, ferricyanides and dimethyl phosphates. (3) Determination of the relative basicity of illinium as by the frac tional precipitation with NH2OH and NaNO2. (4) Separation of illinium from its neighbors by means of the varying ionic velocities. (5) Other minerals, especially those rich in neodymium and samarium, are being

examined for illinium. The results so far obtained indicate that the best method of concentration is by means of the fractionation as double magnesium nitrate and as bromate, although the fractionation as dimethyl phosphate looks promising. The ionic migration method has possibilities which are attractive, although the results so far obtained are not conclusive. It seems probable that the basicity of illinium will place it between neodymium and samarium, although work on this phase of the problem is especially tedious. One quantity of American samarskite was tested for illinium with negative results, but the present indications are that fergusonite contains a larger proportion of illinium than monazite. ores such as cerite, allanite, gadolinite and tscheffkinite are now under investigation as possible sources of illinium.

Other

The critical stage of the earth's megadiastrophism: T. C. CHAMBERLIN.

Factors governing the low temperature carbonization of high oxygen coals: S. W. PARR (introduced by W. A. Noyes).

Hydrazoic acid; an ammono nitric acid, a nitrous acid hydrazide and an ammono hyponitrous acid: E. C. FRANKLIN.

Isolation of the alpha form of methyl alpha glucoheptoglucoside and its acetate: C. S. HUDSON.

Glacier motion as a type of rock deformation: ROLLIN T. CHAMBERLIN. In an endeavor to decide between viscous flow and crystalline yielding, measurements of the internal shearing in various glaciers were made with a self-recording clockwork apparatus. The results show that slipping takes place along definite shearing planes, at times gradually and at other times by distinct jumps. The capacity to withstand a certain amount of growing stress before yielding is indicated. Four manifestations of glacier movement are recognized: (1) Solid flow by idiomolecular exchange between ice crystals, (2) solid shearing of aggregates of granules, (3) intermittent slip along well-developed thrust fault planes, and (4) sliding of the whole body of ice over the rock beneath. Here is a rock of simplest sort actually undergoing deformation before our eyes. It gives concrete illustration of many of the phases of earth deformation which have been interpreted chiefly from results remaining from the past.

Concerning the metal in meteorites: GEO. P. MERRILL (with lantern slides). The paper gives a brief résumé of opinions relative to the metallic constituent of stony meteorites, and dwells mainly upon its physical properties as compared with artificial material. It is shown to partake of the nature of artificial so-called wrought iron and undergoing decided changes on fusion under ordinary conditions. Particular attention is, however, called to the position of the metal relative to the silicate constituents and the conclusions to be drawn therefrom.

The influence of oscillating sea-level on the development of the continental shelf: FRANCIS P. SHEPARD (introduced by David White).

Lake Illinois and the problem of its duration: M. M. LEIGHTON (introduced by T. C. Chamberlin).

Evolution of the odd-numbered elements: W. V. HOWARD (introduced by H. S. Washington). When the isotopes of the elements which have been determined by Aston and others are plotted on coordinate paper with the atomic numbers as abscissae and the mass numbers as ordinates they are found to have certain definite relationships to one another. These may be expressed as follows: (1) The isotopes of the even-numbered elements between carbon and polonium form two groups of series, of which one group conforms to the equation M = 2N+4X and the other to the equation M=2N+4X+2, where M is the mass number, N the atomic number and X a whole number between 0 and 11. (2) Each series corresponding to any given value of X in one or other of the two groups is terminated by an element which has an isotope with an odd mass number, and in some cases two such isotopes. (3) The odd isotopes of the even-numbered elements may lie immediately above the lowest and second lowest even-numbered isotopes or above either of these, but never occupy a higher place in the list of isotopes of any element. (4) The elements whose lower isotopes terminate one or more series have higher isotopes which begin one or two others. (5) No element has more than five even isotopes (xenon excepted). (6) The above rules do not hold in their entirety for the two series in which X=0. (7) No odd-numbered element has more than two isotopes. (8) No odd-numbered element has an isotope with an even mass number. (9) No odd-numbered element has an isotope whose mass number is the same as that of any isotope of any other element, odd or even. (10) If an odd-numbered element has two isotopes, the following even-numbered element can not have more than one odd isotope. (11) The isotopes of all odd-numbered elements have a mass number which is less by one than one or other or both of the two lowest isotopes of the even-numbered element immediately following. These rules do not hold for nitrogen, the elements below carbon in the periodic table or the radioactive elements. By means of these rules the isotopes of those elements which have not yet been successfully attacked may be predicted with results which agree very closely with those of Russell. These relationships together with certain experimental results and the occurrence of the different elements in the earth's crust suggest that the odd-numbered elements were formed from the lowest isotopes of the even-numbered elements by the loss of a proton and an electron which combined to form atomic hydrogen. If it be assumed that this change has taken place, it is possible to account for the amount of water in the ocean and the great quantity of juvenile water which is being constantly added to the earth's crust. The process of magmation becomes one whereby disintegration of the

odd-numbered elements at a comparatively shallow depth below the earth's crust raises the temperature of the rocks and at the same time provides water, which results in the lowering of the melting-point of those rocks 80 that a magma may be formed. The theory of the radioactive control of mountain building becomes one of mountain building caused by non-radioactive disintegration of the elements. All the heat involved in mountain building, the formation and rise of magmas, and the heat radiated from earth's crust may be supplied from this one cause alone.

Evolution of the odd-numbered elements: W. V. HOWARD (introduced by H. S. Washington).

The ordovician section of northwestern Illinois: E. O. ULRICH.

Some factors in rock metamorphism: DAVID WHITE.

The Shinarump conglomerate and its associated vertebrate fauna: E. C. CASE (introduced by F. G. Novy).

Influence of oscillating sea-level on the development of the continental shelf: F. P. SHEPARD. Evidences of changing relations of land and sea are found on almost every coast. Little has been done to determine whether such changes are dominantly a result of crustal warping or of the shifting of the sea-level. The problem has been discussed chiefly in connection with coral reefs. Since these reefs occur mostly in very unstable regions, the results can not be said to be very satisfactory. There is a terrace-like submarine platform around the various continents, which is covered by rarely exceeding water, 600 feet. It is terminated by a fairly steep slope which leads down to the deep ocean basins. This is known as the continental shelf. A study of this feature should throw light on the question of sea-level changes. Previously only small parts of the shelf have been considered with any care. The present study took in all parts of the shelf. The results of the study lend much support to the idea of shifting sea-levels. Hills, valleys, delta flats, terraces, are found in abundance along all parts of the continental shelf. In connection with coral reefs studies it has been proposed previously that the sea was lowered by glaciation about 200 or 300 feet. Such lowering does not appear to be adequate to explain the features mentioned above, which are indicative of sub-aerial or of littoral erosion and deposition. It seems probable that during much of the Tertiary period the sea-level was from 400 to 800 feet lower than at present. In testing the validity of this hypothesis all varieties of coasts were considered, such as arid, humid, mountainous, low and so forth. The characteristics of the shelf adjacent to each type of coast were compared with predictions based on the various hypotheses for the origin of the shelf. In each case the actual conditions appeared to fit the newly suggested hypothesis much better than the others. If such considerable changes of sea-level have occurred, many coastal features formerly ascribed to diastrophism can be explained without it.

No. 1716

The Magneto-Optical Effect: DR. ELIHU THOMSON. The European Larch Canker in America: DR. PERLEY SPAULDING and PAUL V. SIGGERS. The Deficiency of English Units of Measure and Weight: SAMUEL RUSSELL. "Washboard'' or "Corduroy" Effect on Dirt Roads: C. A. RUCKMICK

Elements essential for Plant Growth: DR. ANNA L. SOMMER

Scientific Apparatus and Laboratory Methods:

A Container for Collection of Mosquito Larvae: PROFESSOR WM. A. HOFFMAN. Dacalcification of Bone in Acid Free Solutions: DR. P. KRAMER and DR. P. G. SHIPLEY

Special Articles:

E.M.F. induced in a Wire by a Current in a Parallel Conductor: PROFESSOR VLADIMIR KARAPETOFF. Rate of Virus Spread in Tomato Plants: W. A. McCUBBIN and F. F. SMITH. Feeding Plants Manganese through the Stomata: DR. FORMAN T. MCLEAN

Southwestern Archeological Conference: DR. A. V. KIDDER

The American Association for the Advancement of Science:

Financial Grants to advance Research: DR. BURTON E. LIVINGSTON Science News

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OBJECTIVE AND HUMAN PHYSICS

THE twofold view of nature is as old as theoretical physics. The picture in which nature presents itself to the observer is complicated; but Democritus, the great Greek thinker, had already recognized that this complication is only apparent, and the result of the peculiarities and limitations of the human senses. It was the idea of Democritus that the picture of nature to which true thinking leads must be of much greater simplicity than that which man receives through his senses. The necessary condition for the simplification of physics had therefore to consist in the liberation of physics from all human, from all subjective, points of view.

Democritus also recognized that the objects of the simplest physical events must be much smaller than any object amenable to sense-perception. The exploration of hidden atomic events thus became the essential aim of objective physics.

As soon as the true size of atoms was evaluated by exact methods, the primarily speculative hypothesis became exact scientific knowledge. To-day we can determine the mass of atoms with comparatively greater accuracy than the mass of the earth. Not only through one but through the most varied and independent methods the characteristic constants of atoms can be determined in the most accurate manner; and all these methods, independently of each other, have led to the same values. If it can be regarded as an argument for the existence of our external world that the sensations of sight, hearing and touch all lead us to infer the existence of the same objects, then theoretical physics has certain proof of the real existence of atoms in the fact that their characteristic constants, as obtained by fundamentally different methods, have nevertheless always the same values.

Modern physics, based on the exploration of atomic processes, has revealed to us a picture of nature of great simplicity. It has clearly shown that it is not nature that is complicated, but only the path leading to a knowledge of it, and that this path consists in the gradual transformation of the subjective world-picture into an objective one.

But if the objective picture be the true one, then it should also be possible inversely to construct the subjective human picture from the objective one. We can then raise the question of how, under given powers and limitations of the human senses, nature may reappear in a picture produced by these senses. We

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can ask how, from such a subjective picture of nature, a physical science can originate and how, out of the objective qualities of nature, the real development of physics, created by man, is to be understood. I shall discuss briefly these questions.

First, let us ask how nature, of which man receives a certain picture through his senses, may be constituted in reality; how it would appear to a spirit, say to an imaginary demon whose perceptive faculty admitted of no restrictions whatever and who could compare sizes and compare times, but for whom words like "large" and "small," "quick" and "slow" would have no meaning at all.

To such a spirit, matter would reveal itself in countless primordial particles of only twofold sorts. Could he isolate some of them and examine their mutual influence, he would find out that primordial particles of the same sort repel each other, whereas those of opposite kinds attract each other. If he were to construct the fundamental mechanical conceptions, such as force and mass, in the same way as is done by man, he would recognize that the particles of one sort have a mass about 1,850 times greater than the particles of the other sort. He might distinguish the particles of greater mass as positive protons from the other sort which he might call negative electrons.

The spirit would perceive aggregates in which positive and negative primordial particles are comparatively close together, but where the positive particles always have a majority. He might call these aggregates nuclei. Furthermore the spirit would find how negative electrons revolve round these nuclei like planets round a central sun. Such a system formed out of a nucleus and revolving negative electrons might be called an atom by the spirit.

He would find that the orbits in an atom can not be arbitrary ones, but only such that a certain magnitude characterizing the motion in the orbit is exactly a whole number multiple of a definite elementary magnitude. Something like the so-called "harmony of the spheres" would reveal itself in the regularities of the orbits described round the nucleus.

The spirit would also recognize that, as a rule, the number of negative primordial particles contained in an atom is either perfectly or with a small difference equal to the number of positive primordial particles. In the first case (the case of perfect equality) it might speak of a neutral, in the second case (the case of imperfect equality) of a charged atom. Among the various species of atoms perceived by the spirit, one type would strike him by its particular simplicity, namely, those atoms in which only a single negative primordial particle runs around a single positive primordial particle which represents the nucleus.

The spirit would also find that out of atoms of a single or of several kinds complexes are formed by mutual attraction which often contain two or more atoms. In this case he might call the said complexes molecules. In some cases he would find single atoms which might be called monatomic molecules.

The spirit would recognize as the most frequent state of matter a state in which the molecules are wildly shooting in all directions, causing perpetual collisions between them. Such a state of matter might be designated by him as gaseous. On the other hand, he might speak of a solid state if the atoms are arranged in a definite manner so that the internal motion of matter consists in oscillations. Between the two extremes of the gaseous and the solid state intermediate stages will be perceptible.

Moreover the spirit would find that only a vanishingly small fraction of space is really filled with matter; but that, on the other hand, matter is concentrated in formations which contain, at least in order of magnitude, the same number of primordial particles, a number between 1055 and 1059. Such formations, rising and disappearing, might be called stars by the spirit. He would find that in the stars the internal motion and also the force of collisions are so tremendously violent that any durable formation of molecules and probably also of complete atoms is prevented.

Around the stars the spirit would recognize formations like our earth which consist of a thousandth or a millionth as many primordial particles and in which the motion gradually being retarded is relatively much slower than in the central stars. When, for instance, the spirit considers the processes on earth, he would find that the internal motion is relatively so slow that both the most solidly constructed nuclei and the atoms and, as a rule, even the molecules wholly withstand collisions.

If the spirit considered any position in space for a given instant, he could determine the magnitude and the direction of the force which would be exerted upon a primordial particle should it be there. This force, measured by any scale, might be called the electric field-strength existing at the given position at the given instant. The spirit would find out moreover that the strength of the electric field can vary periodically in its magnitude and direction, as well as in space, namely, from position to position, and in time from instant to instant. If there exists such a double space-time-periodicity, the spirit might speak of electric waves.

He would find space filled with such waves of very different lengths and of very different frequencies. If a wave has a frequency two, four, eight or sixteen

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times as great as another, the spirit might say that its oscillations lie one, two, three or four octaves higher.

The spirit would also recognize that there exists a close correlation between the electric waves and alterations in the structure of matter. Besides the normal states of atoms and molecules there are possible, as the spirit would find out, also abnormal states in which the grouping of the electrons round the nucleus differs from the usual. Such alterations of configuration h either require a supply of energy, or energy becomes available through the alteration. The spirit would perceive that the energy liberated can be transformed into energy of an emitted electric wave. Conversely he would find that the energy supplied can spring from an absorbed wave. But he would recognize that in both cases the frequency of the wave can be considered as an immediate measure for the resulting

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i transformation. This rule might be called by the spirit the frequency-condition.

As the simplest atom, we have previously considered one in which a single negative primordial particle a revolves round a single positive primordial particle. If this simplest atom passes from its normal state to an abnormal one, which differs the least from the normal, this transition would appear to the spirit as the simplest among all possible alterations of configuration occurring in the atoms. The frequency corresponding to this simplest transition might be considered by the spirit as a standard frequency. Frequencies which extend to about twelve octaves lower or to about fourteen octaves higher than this standardfrequency are produced by alterations in other atoms or in molecules.

Apart from the attraction and repulsion between the primordial particles, the spirit would find a universal attraction of matter. This attraction which he would recognize to be proportional to the product of masses might be designated by him as gravitation. He would notice that gravitation is vanishingly small when compared with those electrical forces already mentioned. If he considered, for instance, two positive primordial particles and if he calculated the ratio between their mutual force of repulsion and their gravitational force, he would find it to be about 1086.

Gravitation, therefore, can act its part only between enormous accumulations of primordial particles, for gravitational effects of the particles are always added, whereas the electrical effects originating from the primordial particles compensate each other by reason of the neutrality of matter.

Only in exceptional cases can electrical forces rising from large bodies become so strong as to be able to move other bodies, which are also composed of countless primordial particles, provided the neutrality

be removed in a sufficiently large part of the molecules or atoms. Similar results are produced by certain forces which are exerted upon each other by two revolving electrons on account of their revolutions, and which the spirit might designate as magnetic forces. These forces generally compensate each other, but in some substances the compensation can be so imperfect that the magnetic effect may be revealed by comparatively strong forces between bodies containing countless atoms.

Thus far, I have tried to sketch the objective picture of nature as it would appear to a spirit. From the same nature man receives a subjective picture by means of his senses. To all things he first applies a human standard. His body consists of an enormous number of atoms, about 1028, each of which represents in itself a planetary system. Thus it is not astonishing that man considers as exceedingly small such objects as present themselves to the spirit as complexes of many millions of atoms. The shortest movements executed by the human body appear tremendously long from the standpoint of atomic procIn the time which man needs even to lift an eyelid, each of the electrons in each of his atoms performs millions and millions of revolutions. In a similar way the electric waves filling space perform millions and millions of oscillations during the lifting of an eyelid.

esses.

On the other hand, the duration of man's life appears vanishingly short as compared with some physical processes recognized by our spirit, for whom such words as "long" and "short" do not exist. Much that may appear to the spirit in impetuous evolution, like the stars, may afford to man the deceptive impression of duration and immutability.

As the most important human sense-organ, the spirit would recognize one which reacts upon electric waves belonging to a very narrow region. This region comprises but a single octave and reaches from about three to about two octaves below the standardfrequency I mentioned before. The spirit, however, would find that this human sense-organ which he might call the eye is not sensitive to the electric waves which lie beyond those narrow limits.

The spirit would find in man also a sense-orgam through which man can recognize whether the internall motion of matter with which he is in contact is more intensive or less intensive than the internal motion of the matter forming the human body, which motion is nearly constant in its intensity. This human sense: might be called the sense of temperature.

By means of his eyes man obviously can perceive or, as we might say, he can see such objects which either emit electric waves or which absorb waves of definite frequencies from the totality of electric waves