GERMANS MAY YET SOLVE INDEMNITY DIFFICULTIES

The recent popular enthusiasm concerning the reported discovery of a method of manufacturing gold from mercury is not shared by many American scientists, according to Dr. N. F. Hall, instructor in Chemistry at the University.

He termed the results reported by Professor Miethe in Berlin as not sufficiently conclusive or certain to warrant their immediate acceptance, but said that he would not be surprised at all if later investigation confirmed them. The German professor claims to have produced gold from mercury by enclosing the mercury in a tube and subjecting it to the action of a powerful electric discharge for a great length of time.

Possible in Near Future

"The manufacture of gold from mercury is in line with the latest developments of modern chemistry and physics", he said, "and it may quite probably be accomplished in the near future. Theoretically, synthetic gold is quite possible, but the practical difficulties which must be overcome before it can be manufactured in large quantities are enormous.

"Scientists have already succeeded in changing nitrogen into hydrogen by the action of alpha particles. This feat was accomplished by Rutherford some time ago. Another investigator has reported a change of tungsten into helium at a very high temperature, but scientists in general consider his results as unconfirmed. The work of Rutherford has been duplicated by several other investigators and his transmutation of nitrogen into hydrogen is accepted as a fact.

"It is my understanding that other reputable chemists have not had favorable results when trying to duplicate Professor Miethe's experiment. But especially in Germany some appear to accept his results as final. A few Germans and a large number of scientists of other nationalities are "from Missouri" and await further proof."

Roofs--May be Made of Gold

According to Dr. Hall the synthetic gold, if it could be produced cheaply enough would have a large number of practical uses beside its present use for jewelry and coinage. Its properties are very similar to copper, and if it could be produced as cheaply as that metal it could be used for electrical wiring, as it is a good conductor. We might also see roofs, and cooking utensils made of the substance. It would have the added advantage of not tarnishing in the air. In chemical work it might find some use as a material for containers of various kinds as it is inactive chemically.

"But an era of cheap and plentiful gold is not very likely to come in the near future, even if the element is actually artificially made. The cost of the gold which Professor Miethe claims to have produced, if he actually produced it, would be many times the value of the substance at the present time.

No immediate Results

"If gold is produced there are two possibilities, first that the energy required to produce the gold will make the cost of production prohibitive, and second that so much energy will be liberated in the process of manufacturing the substance that the energy will be worth more than the gold produced. Scientists are not certain yet which of these possibilities will actually occur, but in any event the gold standard of currency will not be affected by the synthetic material for some time."

Professor Miethe's reported discovery that quicksilver could be transformed into gold, an apparent solution of an age-old problem and a realization of the dream of ancient alchemists, was an accident, as were many other scientific discoveries. Using a quartz lamp and quicksilver vapor, he was endeavoring to determine the effect of ultra violet rays upon certain materials. An electric current of 170 volts and of a comparatively low amperage was passed through the lamp.

Apparatus Becomes Gilded

After 200 hours with this current he observed that the apparatus had become less efficient. He took it apart and found that the inside of the quartz lamp had become coated with a black film. Upon subjecting this film to chemical analysis he found that he had produced accidentally a small quantity of gold.

In commenting upon the method used by Professor Miethe, Dr. Hall stated that the methods now in use by chemists for detecting small quantities of gold in the presence of large quantities of other substances were so uncertain that it is questionable whether the gold Professor Miethe found was not originally contained in the mercury. Professor Miethe had also considered the accuracy of his method, and believed that he had allowed for all known sources of error in reporting his result.