Helium in Natural Gas

Abstract

THE researches of H. P. Cady and D. F. McFarland in 1905 on some natural gas from Kansas led to the interesting discovery of the presence of helium in that gas, a fact of which advantage was taken afterwards by the United States military authorities during the later stages of the war. In 1915 the natural gas resources of this country were investigated for a similar purpose under the direction of the late Sir William Ramsay, and those of Canada were also examined, but in both cases the efforts were unsuccessful. The dangers attending hydrogen-filled aircraft were obvious from the fate of many of the German Zeppelins, so that the possibility of extracting sufficient quantities of an incombustible gas such as helium (admirably suited in every way to the peculiar requirements of lighter-than-air machines) was too important to be ignored.