Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 20: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

810 giving vent to one of her very best beneath- the-breath mutters, left the field. Ramier’s first move as victor was to dump the “ Cérise Supréme ” into a sink and thoroughly to wash out the glass bowl. This seemed an act of most extravagant wastefulness to Billy, and he made no bones about saying so. ‘“ Nonsense,” said Ramier pleasantly. He was feeling much more friendly and jolly now that he had his bowl. ‘“‘ What is the slight matter of a quart or so of ‘ Cérise Supréme’ in comparison with the experi- ment upon which we are about to embark?” “T say,” said Billy, ‘‘ have you two eggs been going on like this on the Q. T., as it were, with old Snoodgy’s course?”’ “We have,” said Ramier. ‘ And if you care to sit in, you are welcome. Miss Du- veen and I are about to reproduce the beau- tiful experiments of Mayer.” Billy sat. Regardless of whether the show proved interesting or not, he could at least hold a wake by the sink. : CHAPTER III. CORKS AND NEEDLES, “i Se HAT the experiments of Mayer should be termed beautiful is an extrava- gance that none but a scientific mind could goinfor. The five corks with needles stuck through them undoubtedly possessed for Ramier some«rare loveliness obscure to the eyes of a layman. They would simply have looked stupidly homeless and with no purpose in life to me. “You will remember,” said Ramier, seiz- ing a cork and the manner of a lecturer at the same time, “ Professor Kretjz’s state- ment that the atomic theory of Leucippus and his friends, as well as those of the school of Democritus, have been as forerunners of Dalton’s theory. They specifically describe the smallest particles of matter as ‘ atoms’ — drouos —which means, as you ought to know if you don’t, indivisible. They con- ceive them as rigid bodies suspended and moving about one another in empty space.” “Very much like the thoughts of a re- former,” said Billy. ‘“‘ We are dealing with facts,” said Ramier ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. severely, and continued his lecture, while carefully shoving an agreeable needle through a violently objecting cork. ‘“ From such early conceptions to the full flower of our present day knowledge there is no need for us to follow each individual step. I will merely refresh your memory by giving each step the name of its creator—Van Helmont, at the beginning of the seventeenth century —Lavoisier—J. R. Richter, 1792—Dalton; Berzelius, Stas, Richards, Guye, and so forth. Then we come to Avogadro with his molecular hypothesis—and Prout, who in 1815, took the atomic weight of hydrogen as unity and concluded that this element is the primitive substance of which the other elements are built up.” Is it any wonder, as I previously re- marked, that I am astonished at Drusilla’s having remained in love with Ramier dur- ing such cataloguings as that? I can only conclude that, like a sensible girl, she closed her ears to what he was saying and quietly amused herself by gazing upon him as a specimen of splendid young virility and manhood. “Coming down to the anticipation of the Periodic System,” Ramier continued with verve, “we see Dobereiner in 1817 pointing out the existence of ‘ Triads.’ Then we skip to the tables of elements of Gmelin, 1843, based on chemical similarity—to those of Chancourtois, 1862; of Lothar Meyer, 1864; and of Newlands, 1863 to 1866, Law of Octaves.” With this light and frothy introduction, Ramier then proceeded to buckle down to the work at hand—that is to say, to a re- production of the aforementioned beautiful experiments of Mayer. These, as I either do or do not under- stand it, hinge on the regular arrangement of particles left free to move beneath the influence of certain attractive and repulsive forces. Mayer—and Ramier—used magne- tized needles mounted in corks that floated on the surface of the basin of water, with all their positive poles uppermost. The magnetized needles, with a desire for privacy that was all but human, moved speedily away from one another, owing to the repulsion of similar poles. Now Billy assures me that a child can understand <S Oo * COMMicloo CO