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In a paper presented to the Academic des Sciences, Messrs. Guts and Reordered mention their researches upon the preparation and properties of the metal strontium. The properties of this metal are but little known up to the present, and seem to differ according to the authors who treat the question. Therefore, it seemed of interest to take up the study of this body. The authors prepare it by the method which they already used in preparing barium. At first the hydride of strontium is formed, which is free from mercury by the continued action of hydrogen upon a strontium amalgam. When placed in a vacuum produced by the mercury pump and heated to 1,000 deg. C. this body is decomposed and we are able to condense the vapor of strontium on a cooled steel tube without any dif-fieulty. The authors mention some of the properties of the metal which they have observed. Their product contained 99.43 per cent of the pure metal. It is of a silver white color and is crystalline in form, but it tarnishes almost instantly when in contact with the air. It melts at about 800 deg. C. and volatilizes at ..L higher temperature. Dry carbonic acid gas has no action upon it in the cold. At a red heat this gas is absorbed with formation of a carbide and also of strontia. Ether and benzine have no effect ,on the metal, but absolute alcohol dissolves it easily and hydrogen is given off. Water is also decomposed by the metal, forming strontia, which is dissolved. In the test Which they made to find the heat caused by the oxidation of the metal, they find that this lies between the figures for calcium and barium, as the chemical analogies lead us to suppose. Henryk Arctowski, a member of the Belgian Antarctic, expedition, is planning to go to the South Pole in an automobile. He declares that one may go by ship to the lower end of Ross Sea, at 78 degrees latitude, to the foot of Mount Erebus and Mount Terror, proceeding thence to the point already reached by Scott. This explorer was forced to proceed on foot for five months. He could have continued on his way over the icy plain, but did' not ' have sufficient provisions, and was compelled to 'retrace his steps. It is now a question, therefore, of finding out how one can accomplish this journey in an automobile, and advance even farther. The distance from Mounts Erebus and Terror to the South Pole is 1,296 kilometers (about 805 miles). Mr. Arctowski believes that he can accomplish this distance in three trips of 432 kilometers (about 268 miles) each. A first automobile will depart loaded with provisions, and will arrive at the first station. A second will be dispatched to restock the first with gasoline, and will return to the point of departure. A third automobile, making two trips, will restock the first automobile at the second station, permitting it to proceed to the actual pole. Returning, one automobile will be abandoned at the pole, and another on the way, It being impossible to do otherwise. They will cover 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) an hour, or 20 at the most, and will be specially constructed, after experimenting on the Alpine glaciers, for instance on the Aletch Giacier in Switzerland. The expedition will depart In August, 1907, for the Antarctic regions,.
