WR OCCULT CHEMISTRY. XI. VI. THE STAR GROUPS. E have now reached the last of the groups, as arranged on Sir William Crookes' lemniscates, that forming the 'neutral' column; it is headed by helium, which is sui generis. The remainder are in the form of a flat star (see Plate IV., 4), with a centre formed of five intersecting and 'cigar '-bearing tetrahedra, and six radiating arms. Ten of these have been observed, five pairs in which the second member differs but slightly from the first; they are: Neon, Meta-neon; Argon, Metargon; Krypton, Meta-krypton; Xenon, Meta-xenon; Kalon, Meta-kalon; are not yet discovered by chemists. a periodic law; taking an arm of the star in each of the five pairs, we find the number of atoms to be as follows: the last pair and the meta forms These all show the It will be observed that the meta form, in each case shows seven more atoms than its fellow. HELIUM (Plate III., 5, and Plate XX., 1), shows two' cigar'bearing tetrahedra, and two hydrogen triangles, the tetrahedra revolving round an egg-shaped central body, and the triangles spinning on their own axes while performing a similar revolution. The whole has an attractively airy appearance, as of a fairy element. HELIUM: Two tetrahedra of 24 atoms Two triangles of 9 atoms Central egg Atomic Weight 48 ... 18 ... NEON (Plate XX., 2 and 6) has six arms of the pattern shown in 2, radiating from the central globe. NEON: Six arms of 40 atoms Central tetrahedra 240 ... 120 ... META-NEON (Plate XX., 3 and 6) differs from its comrade by the insertion of an additional atom in each of the groups included in the second body within its arm, and substituting a seven-atomed group for one of the triplets in neon. META-NEON: Six arms of 47 atoms Central tetrahedra Atomic Weight Number Weight 40 ARGON (Plate XX., 4, 6 and 7) shows within its arms the b 63 which we met in nitrogen, yttrium, vanadium and niobium, but not the balloon,' which we shall find with it in krypton and its congeners. ARGON: Six arms of 99 atoms Central tetrahedra Atomic Weight Total 594 METARGON (Plate XX., 5, 6 and 7) again shows only an KRYPTON (Plate XXI., 1 and 4, and Plate XX, 6 and 7) contains the nitrogen balloon,' elongated by its juxtaposition to b 63. The central tetrahedra appear as usual. KRYPTON Six arms of 224 atoms ... 1344 META-KRYPTON differs only from krypton by the substitution. of z for y in each arm of the star, peculiarity shared only by kalon, that x and y are asymmetrical, the centre of one having three atoms and the centre of the other two. Is this done in order to preserve the difference of seven from its comrade? two zs for x and y. 2298 META-ZENON differs from zenon only by the substitution of KALON (Plate XXI., 3 and 4, and Plate XX., 6 ... 169.66 and 7) has a not observed curious cone, possessing a kind of tail which we have elsewhere; x and y show the same asymmetry as in zenon. META-KALON again substitutes 2 zs for x and y. META-KALON: Six arms of 496 atoms Central tetrahedra ... 169.66 Only a few atoms of kalon and meta-kalon have been found in the air of a fair-sized room. |