I.

THE Faculty, graduates and seniors

`of Cornell University, have selected in answer to queries received, the following, that they think ought to be named as the greatest wonders of the world:

Wireless telegraphy, synthetic chemistry, radium, antitoxins, aeroplanes, the Panama Canal, and the telephone.

Such a questionnaire can lead to no scientific generalization, but it does stimulate thought, and serves to make the thinker better appreciate the marvels of the age in which he lives, and which make life for him so much happier and more comfortable than it was for his forbears. Analysis, discussion and argument should certainly lead to clearer vision and to truer judgments.

Let us briefly consider why these "wonders" deserve to rank among the greatest, and as a point of departure let us refer to the dictionary definition of wonder. Webster defines it as "that emotion which is excited by novelty, or the presentation to the sight, or mind of something new, unusual, strange, great, extraordinary, or not well understood." Also, "A cause of wonder."

According to this statement, what would be a wonder to one person, would not be so to another. Let us see if the seven above enumerated have a universal quality that would make them "wonders" to the large and decisive majority of mankind.

RADIUM.

Kadium truly belongs to the above. category, for its discovery aroused profound amazement not only in the lay, but in the scientific mind.

The discovery of radium opened up a new world to the scientist, and a study of its nature and action stirs one as does a noble poem, awakening in the soul awe, delight, and renewed faith in eternal law.

When its peculiar characteristics first became known to science, the adepts were non-plussed. It seemed as if the foundations of modern science were completely overthrown; and the two cardinal principles, the conservation of energy, and the persistence of matter, were proven wrong. But further research and experiment proved that even this mysterious matter embodied these same elemental laws.

It is difficult to convey to the lay mind an idea of this remarkable element in a few words.

Several surprising discoveries preceded that of radium. The Crooke's tube with its illustration of the cathode ray, (vibrations of moving matter) led to Röntgen's discovery of the so-called X-rays, which are invisible themselves. but so act upon other invisible substances as to make them give out light rays, and they can do this after having themselves passed through substances opaque to light.

Becquerel next added his quota to the chain of discovery. An accident revealed to his analytic mind that uranium. possessed a property known now as radio-activity but a property never dreamed of before. In the words of Dr. W. Hampson, M. A., "this property of radio-activity, the power of spontaneously, without known chemical change, and without known external help or stimulus, sending out invisible energy such forms as to be capable of passing

through substances and producing chemical or other action at a distance, was investigated by others than its discoverer; among them by Schmidt and Mme. Curie."

Mme. Curie found that pitch-blende manifested radio-activity in the highest degree, and, by continued experiments, through the process known as fractionation, succeeded in separating from barium of pitch-blende the element to which she gave the name "radium." We can imagine the delicacy of her experiments and the patience of her scientific mind, when we learn that from two tons of uranium residues of pitch-blende, she obtained about three-fourths of a grain of fairly pure radium chloride-one part in fortytwo millions.

In the progress of investigation three new substances were found to possess radio-activity; uranium was the first: the others were named thorium, polarium, radium, and a fifth one was announced by Debierne in 1899, and called actinium.

The peculiar properties of radium that puzzled the men of knowledge were the facts that it continually gave forth heat. but suffered no diminution of it, even after the lapse of months. Though it received no help or stimulus from any outside source, it neither burnt up nor grew cold.

Radium also emits three kinds of rays of startling powers, and besides, gives off some material called emanation, which excites luminescence in other substances and gives them power to ionize the air. The latter term means, that dry air is a non-conductor of electricity, but, by certain means, can be disintegrated so as to become a conductor. Radium, in some mysterious action upon other substances, enables them to so affect the air as to make it a conductor.

Hampson thus explains the phenomena of radium, as suggested by Rutherford and Soddy. (We must suppose an acquaintance on the reader's part with the atomic theory up to 1898.) Atoms are no longer regarded as indivisible. They consist of corpuscles, 200,000 of them to

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one atom of radium. But they, the 200,ooo, do not nearly fill the space inside. one atom. There is space for them to be in continual rapid movement, the tiny particles colliding with each other so incessantly and with such energy as to give forth continual heat, just as do the gas particles in the Crooke's tube. The heat developed by radium in one hour is sufficient to heat its own weight of water from freezing to boiling point. The total heat of a salt-spoon of radium would produce energy enough to drive a one-horse-power engine through a working year.

Radium is widely distributed and it is now supposed that many curative waters owe their power to radio-active properties, but as it can be separated only in extremely small quantities, it is very scarce and exceedingly valuable. The discovery of radio-activity obliged science to reconstruct its theory of the nature of the atom, while retaining its fundamental principle of the conservation of energy.

Once granted the new atomic theory, and the peculiar qualities of radium, imagination can set no limit to the future discoveries in the field of Science.

SYNTHETIC CHEMISTRY.

Still another of the modern Seven Wonders is synthetic chemistry, and truly, man seems in this era to have acquired a wizard's power over nature's elements.

For innumerable centuries the alchemist took apart, analyzed, disintegrated the organic and inorganic materials. around him, to learn their properties, their elements, their action under different conditions. Many of these substances and their elements he has learned to apply and utilize in various ways, although at first the scientist and philosopher studied and observed for the mere joy of knowing and of adding to the sum of knowledge.

But lately, many of the sources of supply of the various substances, both organic and inorganic, which he has applied in manufacturing or in agricul

ture, have begun to show signs of depletion.

The potash fields of Germany, the coal supplies of England, the saltpetre of Chili, will not last forever; the soil is continually being impoverished by the trees and plants that absorb its nutriment, the indigo supply grows smaller, populations increase all over the globe, and all the mouths want food.

What can man do in the face of these facts? He turns to the laboratory to experiment and learn how to synthesize the elements and so combine them chemically as to form the needed compositions. This is synthetic chemistry-to produce artificially nature's products.

Synthetic chemistry dates from 1828 when Wöhler succeeded in producing carbamide (essentially an animal product) from purely inorganic substances, proving to an astonished world that "vital force" was not necessary for the production of organic substances.

Since that day man has learned to utilize the by-products of manufactured articles that were formerly worse than useless.

We will give one instance: Leblanc, in France, invented the process of making carbonate of soda from salt. Its production let loose in the atmosphere quantities of hydrochloric acid gas that poisoned the air and devastated vast areas of land. In time the paper tax in England was removed; paper began to be made on an immense scale, hydrochloric acid was needed to bleach it and methods were devised to absorb and save every particle of the acid.

Man makes tons of the artificial aniline dyes that now replace the vegetable madder and indigo of former years, and he can now make artificial camphor also. By synthesis in the laboratory, he has also succeeded in making true diamonds and rubies artificially.

He now manufactures in Norway. large quantities of nitrate of lime, for fertilizing purposes, using the nitrogen of the air and combining it by electricity with oxygen, a difficult process to

So much has been learned of the possibilities of synthetic chemistry that now every important manufacturing plant has its laboratory and paid chemist who is continually experimenting to the end that he may devise new ways of utilizing waste products and building up fortunes out of what was once thrown away. Of making the desert blossom as the rose. He has got hold of a scientific key that will help him to make the supply equal the demand in all departments of life.

AEROPLANE.

Few if any people would omit from our wonder-list the aeroplane,—-nineteenth century fulfillment of the dream of the mythical Daedalus, type of all those men of scientific or mathematical genius who, for countless centuries, have had visions of mastering the air.

The gas-filled dirigible balloon did not suffice for these thinkers: what they sought was a machine, heavier than air, that could, nevertheless, be propelled through space as a bird raises itself and flies. And it remained for our century to see these dreams become actual fact. in that ever memorable month of December, 1903, when Wilbur and Orville Wright flew for fiftynine seconds, a distance of .98 of a mile, in a power-driven machine! A short time, to be sure, but the first short flight proved many things and led to many more. It meant that man was master of this new situation.

That first short trip was increased the next year to one of three miles in 5 minutes 27 seconds, and in 1905 a flight of 24.20 miles was made.

Many experiments had paved the way for the final success of latter-day flyers. and the work of Lilienthal and Pilcher. who experimented with gliders, added much to the knowledge of what particular curves to a plane help best to get a "lift" out of the air beneath it; as well as how to shape and control subsidiary planes. The glider, it must be understood, is a small kind of aeroplane which is not equipped with motive power. It

with a rudder, but no paddle, and depending on the current to draw it along. The Wright brothers experimented long and patiently with gliders, observing, trying, failing, trying, learning about the action and interaction of aircurrents on planes, and the control of all parts of the mechanism. Then they installed their engine.

But we would not have the aeroplane today had we not had its predecessor, the automobile. The manufacturers, ever experimenting to secure much power in small space, evolved smaller and lighter engines, with maximum of

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must learn to be also, so as to instinctively manipulate his various levers. Courage and self-possession are essentials would one learn to fly.

Much progress has been made since that first short flight by the Wrights. The English Channel has been crossed several times (first by Bleriot.) Long cross-country flights have been taken. Flying schools have been organized; the army is making continual experiments, and an item from Berlin, May 21, states that the Reichstag passed a pension bill for injured military aviators. The revelation of radium's concen

propelling force, and so, in time, coincident with the experiments of the airmen, came the gasoline motor, which the aeroists modified to suit their ends. The general principles once learned, different men have worked out details in different ways. There are monoplanes, biplanes, triplanes, and even the hydroplane is now practicable. There are various types of engines; and some recent airships have carried more than one passenger.

The aeroplane is sensitive to every slightest gust of wind and the flyer

trated energy leads one to believe that perhaps in a short time some new fuel or source of power will be discovered that will give ever-increasing efficiency to the flying-machine.

Among the names famous in aviation are the Wright brothers, GrahameWhite, Lilienthal, Pilcher, Latham, Johnstone, Le Blon, Farman, Paulhan, Moissant, Santos-Dumont.

The death-list is, alas, all too long. The first victim of a power-driven machine was our own Lieutenant Selfridge of the United States army.

I

T looks easy and simple for a girl to sit and play tunes while the pictures are acting themselves out on the screens in front of her: but, as in the continuance performance of life, there is a good deal more of it than first appears.

In the first place, the pianiste, in order to make a success, must be a real musician, and not a drum-major, that scares an instrument every time she looks at it. Other things being equal, the more thoroughly grounded she is in the great, far-reaching field of music, the longer she will "last."

And then she must look out for herself, dress well, look after her health, take good care of her poor perishing body, and see that it does not perish too much between meals. She may not know such a tremendous lot about things in general, but what she does know, she must know good and hard, and be ready to hurl it into her piano at a minute's notice.

When I undertook the task of enthralling the ears of the "aujence", and luring them away from the defects of the scenario, I was so lately out of short dresses, that my knees still felt uncomfortable. I had not yet learned to do my hair up "like a young lady should", and found myself under an inclination to reach for a small hand-mirror, and primp, right in the middle of a pianoobligato. But I was fully equipped in a number of other ways: one of which was Necessity. Father-poor dear father had died, after telling me always to take good care of mother: "she will

have five of you to feed, clothe, and educate, and most of them are little", he whispered. "Do your part-won't you, now, kid?" And I had whispered back, "Dad, I certainly will."

I was the only tuneful one in the family excepting him, and he turned over all his music to me. There wasn't a single one else in our family, who knew or cared whether a tone was on the top of a sky-scraper, or three floors below the basement, with elevator in attendance. As for me, I didn't know a lot of things that they knew, but when the order of the day came to tumbling all over the ivory stepping-stones of a piano, everybody edged back and watched and listened. That was, and is, my little bit of brag, and still I am. entitled to no credit for it: my father gave it to me. But his grandmother gave it to him, he informed me, and some one else to her, and where do we stop?

Well, when my fellow-childers began. to go to business in different directions, and it became my turn, it was music, of course, as I wanted it to be, and would never have had it anything else to be. Teach? not for your little friend. Not for mine, with this foolishly-high strung set of nerves, to try to run three or four generations back, and make Mozarts or Mozartesses of them at so much per. Not mine to bend over dear little darlings who know their mothers are out, and smell their undigested breath, and rap their little fingers gently when they wander among the wrong keys, and soothe them when they have candy-head