The Sunday Oregonian., May 21, 1922, Magazine Section, Page 6, Image 94

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THE SUNDAY OREGQNIAN, PORTLAND, MAT 21, 1923
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V Yv W :A V& 4l
The Solemn Warning of a Famous English
Scientist Comes Just as an American " Wizard
Steals Jove's Power and Man
ufactures a Bolt of Great De
structive Force,
"sas.!S. " .'.?iar-
'-
Dr. Charles
P. Steinmetz,
famous elec
trical engineer,
examining the frag
ments of a tree de
stroyed by a bolt of
lightning he manufactured
two rows In groups of 50 and were cap
able of holding 120,000 volts of elec
tricity. Dr. Steinmetz declares that it is en
tirely possible to produce an artificial
lighfr.ing bolt that will be as damaging
as any ever made by nature. It would in
volve a prohibitive expense and would be
oo dangerous to observe at close quar
ters. But it plainly lies within the power
of science to destroy cities and country
sides at a stroke in such a manner.
World's Bread Supply Guarded
at Source
(Continued From Page 2.)
Reproduction of Sir John Martin's famous painting, "Final Judgment," Show
ing the pit between the blessed and the damned and the heavenly planes.
THAT the earth might one day go up
in flames because of some mam
moth internal combustion has al
ways been considered a scientific possi
bility. That such a combustion might
come about, either by accident or design,
through the hand of man himself, was too
fanciful a possibility even for the pages of
Imaginative fiction.
Bat recent speculations of physicists
have not only indicated Just that possi
bility but have indicated it so pointedly
as to call forth a warning from no less a
scientist than Dr. F. R. Aston, fellow of
Trinity college, Cambridge, England.
The danger, as Dr. Aston sees it, lies in
the apparently harmless unit of matter
known as the atom. The atom in general
and the hydrogen, atom in particular, Is a
reservoir of tremendous energy. So
much so, in fact, that a spoonful of water
ous element known as helium. In the act
of making this transformation the hydro
gen atom would give off energy which
would furnish mankind with limitless
power if it could be controlled. But the
problem of controlling that extraordinary
energy. would be even more difficult than
the work connected with Us discovery.
Hence his warning.
Dr. Aston's contribution to the growing
body of evidence regarding the properties
of the atom follows logically the experi
mental work already done along that line
by Sir Ernest Rutherford in England,
Professor W. D. Harkins in the United
States, and others. ,
The old conception o the atom held
that it was an indivisible unit. Chemists
and physicists spoke of atoms as if they
were so many bricks with which matter
was built up.
But along in the late '90s Sir Oliver
Is capable of being translated into 275,000 Lodge foretold the birth of a new atomic
horsepower if some device for causing
the sudden release of this energy could
be found.
It was against the heedless and unre
stricted searching for this releasing de
vice that Dr. Aston issued his warning In
a recent speech at Philadelphia.
"Should the research worker of tha fu
ture discover some means of releasing
this energy In a form which could be em
ployed," he said, "the human race will
have at Its command powers beyond the
dreams of scientific fiction. But the pos
sibility must always be considered that
the energy onco liberated will be com
pletely uncontrollable and by its Intense
violence detonate all neighboring sub
stances. "If that happens all of the hydrogen on
earth might be transformed at once and
this most successful experiment might be
published to the rest of the universe in
the form of a new star of extraordinary
brilliance as the earth blew up in one
vast explosion."
Dr. Aston's warning against this heed
less "tinkering with angry atoms" came
as a climax to his revelations regarding
the composition of the hydrogen atom.
According to his statements, hydrogen Is
capable ot being transformed into a gase-
theory in several discussions which, while
speculative and philosophical, turned out
to be physically sound. He spoke of the
"breaking up" of atoms. In 1896, Alex
andre Becquerel, tha French chemist, dis
covered in the element known as uranium
a peculiar quality which was afterward
called radioactivity. This radioactivity
is defined as a dynamic property found in
certain bodies of high atomic weight
which causes it to give off peculiarly
characteristic rays invisible to the eye but
capable of penetrating objects opaque to
ordinary light.
Science Explains Energy.
In 1S98, Pierre and Mme. Curie dis
covered radium an element found to
have an extremely high degree of radio
activity and a remarkably high energy.
This discovery amounted to a final proof
that the ray given off by certain sub
stances such as uranium, thorium, radium
actinium and others was a form of energy.
It also consolidated and gave credence to
the growing belief that this energy was
caused by the breaking up of atoms. An
inevitable corollary of this latter belief
was that all other substances were going
through a similar process of disintegra
tion, but at different rates of speed.
Xxw Hviv
This photograph of the
destruction of a two-story
house by lignite during
New York police field
games indicates the force
of a comparatively small
explosion.'
The definite acceptance of this theory
explained many phenomena which had
hitherto been inexplicable. It explained
how it was possible for the sun to
give off heat for its hundred million
years of life. It also opened up stu
pendous possibilities, the most terrifying
i of which was recently suggested by Dr.
Aston. For if radium possessed its tre
mendous energy because of the speed
with which It was breaking up, any ordi
nary element could be given the same
power if some way could be found to
make its speed of disintegration equal to
Newspaper Feature Service, 192J.
that of radium. And once this way was
found, It would then be simple enough
to so accelerate the "breaking np" speed " Jove
of any group of atoms that the process
would be virtually Instantaneous.
Some of the stupefying possibilities
that exist in the unrestricted use of such
an invention as this were suggested in a
' pre-war novel by H. G. Wells called "The
World Set Free." The book was in the
nature of a prophecy. -
Commercializing Atomic Force,
Its central character, a chemist named
Holsten, suddenly hits upon the key to
atomic energy,. In the opening passages
of this book Mr. Wells has Holsten listen
ing tc a classroom lecture being given by
a celebrated savant. Holsten has been
speculating on the theory of atomic
energy for a long time, so his interest is
immediately caught .when the professor
tells his class:
"Radium is doing noticeably and forci
bly what all the other elements are doing
with an Imperceptible slowness. .
Radium is an element that is breaking
up and flying to pieces." Then the pro
fessor holds up a small bottle in his hand.
"This little bottle," he says, "contains
about a pint of uranium oxide. And in
the bottle slumbers at least as much '
energy as we could get by burning about
160 tons of coal. If, at a word in one
instant I could suddenly release that
energy here and now, it would blow us
and everything about us to fragments."
. His imagination fired by this, Holsten
applied himself to experimentation. Then
one day "he set up atomic disintegration
in a minute particle of bismuth.
Confusion followed the commercializa
tion of Holsten's principle. No system for
distributing and controlling the energy
had been worked out. Factories shut
down. Stocks went to nothing. The rich
made a mad rush to possess the new
atomic automobiles .and atomic aero
planes. But the poor hovered about as
under a cloud, not understanding what
it was all about. Finally came a world
war in which the principal weapon was
the atomic bomb. By means of this bomb
cities could be wiped out in a very short
while. . And, as there was no defence
against it, all of the principal cities of
the world were soon in ashes.
At almost the same time that Dr. Aston
was sohnding his warning a mere mortal
was already taking a fling at playing
In his laboratory at Schenectady,
N. Y., Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz, the
world's most famous electrical engineer,
was producing and controlling an indoor
thunderstorm that had all the characteris
tics of the simon-pure, heaven-sent arti
cle. The forked tongue of lightDing
leaped through space with a crash and
shattered a miniature tree from tip to
base. Dr. Steinmetz' generator consisted
of a high-voltage condenser of the form of
200 glass plates. These were arranged in
bushels. Of this amount 69 per cent went
to European points, 25 per cent to the
orient and 6 per cent to South America.
The steamship Hanley was loaded un
der the inspection of the grain inspection
department, in bulk at terminal No. 4, on
October 2S, 1921. ,The wheat was of the
hard red winter (Turkey red) variety and
. graded No. 1 hard winter, with a test
weight of 60.7 pounds to the measured
bushel. Arrangements were made with
the captain of the Hanley, Captain C. S.
Hansen, to heport the condition of the
cargo upqn arrival at destination.
Following is the captain's letter, dated
Marseilles, Dec. 17, 1921:
The undersigned takes pleasure in re
porting to you that the Hanley, is com
pleting discharging her cargo tonight.
The cargo was delivered in first-clas
condition, no sweat, no moisture or damage
of any d-escription, all concerned are very
pleased saying it is the finest cargo ever
came to Marseilles.
The cargo did not settle so that it was
noticeable, and we had some pretty bad
weaher in the Caribbean sea, also in the
Gulf ot Lyons.
(Signed) CAPT. C. S. HANSEN.
Another interesting circumstance about
the cargo to the credit of the weighing
department, was that the weight chrcked
out ac point of discharge within 300 bush
els of the amount weighed in, which loss
was easily accounted for in loss of grain
in handling at both ends of the line.
There are 380 warehouses in the state
of Oregon under the jurisdiction of the
grain inspection department. Each ware
house is required by law to give bonds in
proportion to the amount of grain or hay
handled for the past season.
In the laboratories the scientific staff of
the grain inspection department exercises
the most careful supervision of all sam
ples brought in by the staff of field men
who test the cars on arrival. The grain
- .'& examined for moisture and the grades,
once established, are for permanency. By
their apparatus these men know, to the
smallest fraction, Just how much nutri
ment there is in each grain of wheat, its
keeping qualities and by placing it In its
proper grade this same knowledge be
comes common property. After being
warehoused or placed in elevators the ex
' porting agents have their shipments
cleaned, if necessary, and separated, the
poor grain being given a lower classifica
tion and the shipments for other port
then being all of a uniform nature.
While to the most of all wheat must
look alike, to the skilled inspectors there
is as much variation between different
grades as between day and night. Their
work Is a careful, Important and neces
sary one and the results of the rigid in
spection regulations established on the
Columbia river have been to raise this
port high in the world estimation as a
primary exporting market, and Portland
now wants this recognition established in
every sense.
Big Business Indicated.
A westerner came on to spend his va
cation at Loblolly Cove, near Rockport.
He had never seen the ocean before. The
first morning of his arrival he appeared
at the little fish house and general store
kept by a native named Haskins and an
nounced that he wanted two pails full
of sea water, which the storekeeper
obligingly dipped up for him from the
wharf, it being high tide.
"How much?" the Westerner asked.
" Haskins, who never overlooked a bar
gain, replied:
"Ten cents."
The new arrival paid It cheerfully and
that afternoon he turned up with his pails
again.
"My doctor out home told me to bathe
in sea water twice a day," he explained;
then, observing the distant beach line at
iow tide, added: "Gosh! You've had a
big business today, haven't you, mistert"