Scientists Believe that Metals Are Alive
TJEER experiments that have been
made recently In Europe with
metals have opened a new world
for ths metallurgist a world full
of marvelous, almost fairy-like
poesiblitles.
The first striking discovery that was
made Is that metals suffer from diseases.
They become sick and their strength or
hardness or elasticity will vanish mysteri
ously, and not from the ordinary causes
known to metal workers. Through all the
ages of metal working until now these
curious weakenings and unexpected defects
in apparently sound, high-grade metals
have been set down as "flaws," and even
scientists accepted this as an explanation;
yet. now that the recent studies and experi
ments have begun to solve the puzzle, it is
evident to everybody that "flaw" really ex
plained nothing. To call the defect a flaw
was only to give a name that meant very
llttlo to an entirely unknown condition.
Before the new experiments had gone far
It was discovered that metals can be poi
soned poisoned Just as readily and with as
fatal effect as any organic body, such as an
animal or a plant.
Of course, with this development, the
question arose at once, Is a metal an Inor
ganic body after all?
But scientists did not dare to commit
themselves so far. ..They asked themselves
"the question In'private at first. To ask it
In public was almost to ask the world to
change one of its fundamental scientific be
liefs, the belief in a great diversion of mat
ter into two mighty classes, one of which
Is organic and the other inorganic.
Mi re experiments followed, some f them
so elaborate thai a single one required
many months before it reached a result;
most of them were so ingenius that even
ordinary scientific men could not follow
the intricate processes intelligently, and
only specialists could perceive the real
meaning that lay hidden in the results. At
last, however, the demonstrations had
'multiplied so much and were so striking
In their significance that hesitation gave
way to assurance and the theory of the
disease of metals has been so far accepted
by the practical men of metallurgy that
the imperial navy yard in Wilhelmshafcn,
Germany, sends metals regularly to the
"autopsy room" and "dissecting tables" of
Prof. Heyn, one of the leaders in the new
Investigation.
Now another of the specialists in the
Dew research, the famous Dr. Bechhold of
Germany, has gone still further not in a
mere conjectural theory, but with a con
clusion reached as the end of a series of
careful, logical steps fortified by experi
ment. "Who knows," he asks in summing up
his studies, "if metallurgy will not oon
create a new and Tastly Important branch
for Itself the branch of producing Inoculat
ing material for metals which shall change
their temper and form swiftly instead of
waiting for the slow processes of forging
and tempering that obtain today?"
He explains this conclusion as follows:
There are many organic and inorganic
substances in which sharp changes of tem
perature produce changes of structure, or,
as scientists put It, which assume new
"phases" under such changed conditions.
This alteration of form or structure can
be produced suddenly If the temperature
point necessary for alteration is very de
cidedly over-Btepped. But if the tempera
ture does not go far above or below the
alteration point it is necessary generally
to introduce an artificial Impulse to con
summate the change.
It is possible, for Instance, under certain
circumstances to cool water to a tempera
ture well below freezing point, and still it
will not solidify into ice until a crystal of
ice Is introduced. Then it begins to form
Ice crystals st once and soon Is solid.
Pure glycerine cannot be frozen with
ordinary means, even if they produce tem
peratures as low aa 20 degrees below zero,
until a bit of glycerine that has already
been froze is introduced. But as soon as
this crystal of frozen glycerine Is In the
rest of the glycerine, which has been bo
stubborn until then, becomes docile and be
gins to freeze beautifully.
For lome time past the process has been
technically called "vaccination," because
the term was so apt and convenient; but
until the present day no one suspected how
much truth lay in the accidental name for
the process.
Vet this process is nothing more or less
than Inoculating an inorganic substance
with crystals In order to "breed" in it the
condition of crystallization which is the
necessary first step to lead to freezing. And
the conversion of iron to steel Is only a
series of procecses ot crystallization.
Now recently a straoge thing in metal
lurgy happened. A ship was loaded with
Banca tin in the Strait and sailed for a
northern port In Europe, When It arrived
there, and the work of unloading the valu
able cargo began, the merchants to whom
It was consigned wero amazed and dis
mayed to discover that the entire shipment
had actually crumbled Into dust.
Here was a mystery. For a long time no
one could solve it. Tears ago, It would
have been dismissed Anally with the state
ment that there must have been a "flaw" or
a "fault" In the tin. But the flaw theory
had become unsatisfactory.
Then Prof. Bredlg came out wltu photo
graphs that he had made in a church, in
Silesia. The pictures showed the remnanu
of organ pipes, most of them full of queer,.
mm
w v inn. repreaeuiauve oi a once
yy I all powerful race on the Ameri-
iu tuuueui, are mei aere loua
to play our part on the stage of
life and of government. As I
stand before you a vision rises before me
in which I see the past, the present and
the future.
"The picture unrolls out of the dim and
traditional past showing the untutored
fathers, mothers and children of our race
basking In the sunshine and uncorruptcd
happiness and health of that romantic
and poetic time when aa God's children,
guided by the wisdom handed down In sons
and story, and by the lights hung out In the
skies and the lessons read from the book
of nature lying open before them they
lived and died with the pure light of the
morning, the generous warmth of the
meridian 'and the red glow of the setting
sun prompting to love and marriage, the
chase and the dance.
"Then came the white man with his
civilization and the push and dash and
commercial enterprise born of conditions
existing beyond the changing plains of the
Fat Man His Trourers
William Bolton, editor of the Live Stock
Inspector of Woodward, Okl., was at the
stock yards yesterday on business. Mr.
Bolton admits that he weighs S18 pounds.
He looks the part. When he came into
the lobby of the Exchange building at tho
stock yards yesterday he was perspiring
freely, but smiling.
"Anything new?" he Inquired, in answer
to a similar query. "Well, I should say
there was. But It's not for publication. I
consider myself the most fortunate person
that will sleep In Kansas City tonight. It's
this way:
"Jnst before I started for Kansas City on
this trip I realized that my best trousers
needed mending" he didn't call them
trousers "so I put on an old pair and sent
my best ones down to the tailor. Just bo
fore train time I sent down to the shop
tor them and received word that they
weren't ready. Well, I fidgeted around for
a few minutes and then finally decided that
I'd have to come away without them. My
old ones are fairly good, excepting in one
place. They are getting thia la ths seat.
Uili
crumbling holes. Whole pipes had van
ashed absolutely.
There was no rust, and all Investigation
failed to show any other of the causes that
are known as destroyers of metal. All In
vest Igators at last confessed themselves
nonplussed, until Prof. Bredig, who had
mode a study of the new theories of tho
dlsenses of metal, found a "wound," n gen
uine open wound in a pipe; and his careful,
accurate and rigid experiments furnished
the convincing proof that this wound had
Infected the entire series of pipes with a
creeping disease.
Scarcely had he finished his Investigations
In tlve Sileslan church before a strange co
Incidence enabled him to extend his ex
periments and at the same time obtain ad
ditional proof of the correctness of his pre
vious findings.
He was asked to Inspect the great tin
roof of the Hathaus or Council House of
Rothenburg. Arrived there, he was in
formed that several years ago the roof, al
though It had been attended to carefully,
painted regularly and kept perfectly free
from rust, had begun to crumble away. No
one could Imagine what caused It.
Prof. Bredlg soon discovered a center of
infection. And he was able not only to
trace the gradual progress of the Infection
over the Council House roof, but to show
where the disease had actually Bpread to a
tin roof near by.
Tho phenomenon has been named "tln
pest," and the explanation has been ad
vanced that tin retains Its distinctive and
most valuable attributes only In tempera
tures above 20 degrees. In cold greater
than this structural modification occurs
quickly, and If the cold is pushed to an
Intensity great enough to disintegrate the
tin, it often crumbles away In a grayish
powder.
In temperatures that do rot often fall
far below 20 degrees, the changes are ex
tremely slow, unless the tin becomes in
fected with tho "gray modification." If
some of the gray powder of tin that has
happened to disintegrate should attach it
self to the sound tin, then the disease
communicates itself rapidly to all parts of
the metal.
In the cases of tin plates such as are
used for roofs, the tin Is not a chemical
Individuality of Its own, but is a mixture
of Iron and tin, both of which have already
passed through several modifications dur
ing the processes of conversion Into plates.
Therefore, the process of infection becomes
complicated and a tin roof offers a less re
sisting field than pure'tln.
Now, if metals can be thus Infected with
duease. it follows that they can bo Inocu
lated as organic substances can be. And
as science has gradually buIH a bridge be-
4
Si
r4
siuirW to find a Ki
inrtf
' ' , j. The demon
.".""lo the Arctic regj
ear-splitting
frrVa'riln J?5' iron city to city,
. lAh'm ocean to7n' neyfmoke of number
s' s ftiriow-w"-- "d factories now
uount lh
ever rolling sea. With pure hearts, free
from every shadow of suspicion and guilt,
the red man hailed the coming of the white
man as a gracious gift from the Great
Spirit, and welcomed his white brother
w.m VVK nrnis iu mo laireni .anas i - r I - .hrenl ata-k iv rf ih .n...
beneath the circling blue of MjfJ. r-IlegeA , he churches and
canopy; took him by the hand and e7rM.fUK "-'sxrals are tralnlg tie minds and
through the pathless forest, along the slng-7 cmfortlng tho sollIs of ,Iiny millions red
Ing brooks, beside the gentle flowing rivers,! nlte and black, of the sVis tnd daughters'
to tho mountain tops, from whence ho could of men.
feast his enraptured vision upon broad "Every enn,,...
plains, where the tall prairie grass bend duty, of rlghrdemdHf ., !
Ing and swaying In music waves befori the emMnl. ??! J U8 th.at. wo m"et
tho gentle breezes, stretching
toward the home of the setting
"Looking about us today
tranced as we contemplate
metamorphosis, the vsat and almost
Ic waves befori
ching far it A
letting sun. .X
y ws stand
e '.he woodi""" .
and almnHt 1- ,
ln --"" i me nour; that we siep
into the front rnnlr f .k . .... '
... " mo tug luilfltua
..i!"8 'or'OU8 land of ens; that wo
on ice armor of valiant Americans
citLK,6'1 W'th th0 81vord of American
citizenship cut our .v u .v ,.
describable changes wrought by ths 1.1 J Poverty, Ignorance and superstition with
of man since the white man first r'1 f' 'helr concomitant attendauta nt w.m a
red man. Tuo,' Vulsery. sheltered by tho starry banner of
at the door of the
hamlets, villages, towns n 1 rlttT
dot the land once own, l and tin!,''1'"
sur
dominated by the
stretches of steel rails
tic to the Pacific oeenr
and I've been fearing tt
happeu. Perhaps you Vnow fctw tincorafort
able a feeling onS haf4 in "such a predica
ment. But I did noyWantla miss my train,
and so I decide ! t top9 along in my old
ones. I left word ,rnd my best ones by
express. I went trjuthrte first and hoped
they would oveiU,k ma there. But they
didn't. When rt?cr.ed Wichita I tele
graphed to bars thtm forwarded. When I
left Wichita for Kansas City I was still
wearing the old ones acd I tell you the onx
lous seat was nothing to be compared to the
seat I was sitting on. When I got
here the first thing I did was to telegraph
to all three points to have my best trous
ers forwarded to Kansas City by lightning
express. They Just arrived this morning,
and I've been happy as boy ever since! '
No, nothing happened that I was ashamed ,
of, but I've figured that I spent enough in
paying for messages and express charges to'
buy a new pair."
When asked by a listener why he didn't
buy a new pair In the first place. Edltr
woiion replied: "Couldn't do It. Not
in Kansas City. Why, son. do you
i measure arty-six Inches arouti
wiuujon country, nrrM.ii.im ,,i
sctive members anf earnt workers In
nuw l- M tl.tUn-. pie and (or tbe peop' ' Kamas City
..tn ircr.i -mailt Journal.
waist? There's nof i pair of hand-.ie-downs
In Kansas ttt'jMg enough to fit
me." Kansas City Jot'OiL
Indian. ' Btr.'Ll.
u.1 sunlit
butuethlng might
Requcj-t Denied
"I'rx perfectly illing," said Senator
Boodr, "to com'y with any reasonable
requst of my eJstltuents."
"Veil," replld the spokesman, "there's
onl one thlni we'd like you to do that
yove never done before, and which no
on will expf.-t you to do again."
And that is?"
'Die, f you please." Philadelphia
dger.
tween the lower phases of plant life aa4
the so-called inorganic or dead world.
To the layman the fact that metals ram
be treated Indefinitely by heat without de
struction, seems naturally to prove tht
they can possess the attribute which is
called "life." But tho whole courts of
plant life depends on temperature and Its
changes, and temperature affects all ani
mals, Including man, even pioduclng Illness
and death when the changes are sudden.
In other words, as gradual aud normal
changes of temperature affect snlr-nl and
plant life normally, so they do metals; and
abrupt and abnormal changes of tempera
ture change the structural form of rach.
Tho phraso "unchangeable as steel" is
decidedly Incorrect. Steel In Its making
has to undergo all the changes that the
animal body undergoes In tho courso ot
growth. It Is a combination of Iron and
carbon, and carbon Is organic. The German
metallurgists have come to speak as a mat
ter of course of the "life" that unfolds
Itself In steel under the various tempera
tures that are applied lo It In working It.
During tho course of its changes It often
develops qualities that make It useless for
Industrial purposes while they last. Thus
at one step It becomes brittle a temporary
diseased condition that yields to what
might almost be called tho medical treat
ment of heat properly grnduated.
TolBon this steel with hydrogen or hy
drogenous matter and you sicken It so de
cidedly that It gets Into a condition where
it Is as brittle as If It had been ruined in
tempering.
Prof. Heyn has been studying the changoa
In Iron under all grades of temperature,
and he holds that the metal passes through
various stages of dlseaso that product
structural changes Just as cells change la
form, size and position In the forms com
monly called "organic."
Ho heated copper In order to find why
that metal suffers from overheating, and
his conclusion is that It becomes poisoned
with copper protoxide, which so sickens It
that its structure changes and partially
breaks down.
foo;
;otf
Tho Otrongrth
of tbe cofTeo yoa bay addi to lis
vaiuc ui ttjij cup.
Lion Coffee
comes to yoa fresh and of fall
strength, always in sealed, air-tight
packages. Bulk coffees lose their
sirccgm, deteriorate id flavor, and
also gather dirt
" - : v
lis
GROSS
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References;
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