Escape of Gases from Atmospheres

Abstract

IN a recent number of NATURE (January 14) there appears an article on the above subject by Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, in which he corrects a statement in the literary supplement of the Times of December 25, 1903, in regard to the escape of helium from the earth's atmosphere. The permanence of planetary atmosphere is of so much importance to science that I trust I may be permitted through your columns to add a word to what Dr. Stoney stated in his letter of January 14.