The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-07 00:00:00

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Last evening, the Concert Hall at Ma
was filled with a brilliant audience, assembled to
hear a lecture from Professor Miller, " On Spectrum
Analysis." The proceedings commenced shortly
after eight o'clock, when Mr. William Fairbairn,
the president of the Association, took the chair.
There were on the platform :—Lord ;Wrottesloy,
Lord Stanley, General Sabine, the Rev. Dr. Robin-
son, Rev. V. Hopkins, the newly-appointed general
secretat rryos'
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the lProfessor
on the present occasion was one which had, per-
laps, among the scientific gentlemen of the pre-
sent time, attracted as large a share of popular at-
tention as any that could be named. Itappealed to
the imagination so powerfully ; it revealed to us
matte's of investigation, which, like the telescope,
made known to us
.what was passing in distant
worlds, bringing before us not only those particular
changes which were going on in the bodies which
composed our solar system, but it appeared further
to reveal something of the nature of the more
distant starry world. Not only did it thus, like
me telescope, make known distant objects, but
like the microscope, it revealed bodies and sub-
stances so minute that would defy any other
mode of investigation to make known, and
had to the present time defied all the sources
of chemical analysis. He would put before them
in as brief a manner as possible, the successive
steps by which this discovery had been developed.
Like all other great discoveries, it was not the
work of a single individual. It was a work in
which they were proud to say their own country-
men had borne a prominent part ; and it was espe-
cially fi•ting that this subject should occupy the
attention of the British Association, as many mem-
bers of the body had laid the foundation of their
knowledge on that point. last upon the list of
names stood that of Newton. In 1701 his great
work on optics was given to the public. The spec-
trum, as Newton saw it, he proposed to exhibit. The
spectrum was perhaps thmost glorious sight the eye
could behold, the beams of white light broken into
colours defied description, and could only be appre-
ciated by those who saw it. Newton, and all the
followers of Newton up to the commencement of the
present century allowed light to pass through a cir-
cular aperture, and this exerted an important in-
fluence upon the phenomena observed. The spec-
trum of the sun presented certain black bands,
which were observed by Workaston ; but he did not
further pursue the investigation. In 1814 a dis-
tinguished German philosopher Fraunhofer, exa-
mined with a telescope the ray of light after it had
thus passed through the prism, and found he ob-
tained a series of black lines. These lines occurred
whatever was the material used in the prisms.
Having exhibited the spectrum of Newton, the lec-
turer proceeded by a series of experiments to illus-
trate the various steps taken in these observations.
Fraunhofer examined the light of various fixed
stars and foliar' that although in the sun's light the
black lines always occupied a definite position in
the spectrum, the black lines in the spectrum of the
rays produced by the stars were not always in the
same position. This had proved an invaluable fact
T o opticians in reference to retractive power. Other
lights also exhibited a different system of lines. If
they heated up any substance until it gave out
light, as all solid bodies would if sufficiently heated,
these solid bodies would produce an uninterrupted
spectrum ; but if examined by artificial light there
was a broken spectrum, it being crossed by bright
lines. Dr. Brewster, one of the most distinguished
philosophers of the day, and who, he was glad to
say, was amongst them, was the first to throw any
light on the cause of those lines. He observed that
it the sun's rays were horizontal they had to pass
through a stratum of 200 miles, or more of atmo-
spheric air at its greatest density; if the
rays were vertical they had to pass through
one stratum of continally decreasing density.
It would be observed that when the
sun's rays were horizontal certain portions
were absorbed. Hence, it appeared to be certain
that particular rays were caused or deepened by the
absorptive action of the earth's atmosphere. In
1832, at one of the meetings of this body, Sir David
Brewster exhibited an experiment, in which he bad
found that red vapours produced by one of the
opides airtrogen had a remarkable power on the
sun's rays. In 1822, Herschell made a series of ob-
servation upon coloured light; and he found that by
putting certain salts into the flame of burning
bodies those flames became coloured. But it was to

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PU IiLICATION

ADVOWSON.-PREEHOLDS 'UPTON AND ROTHERS-
THORPE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
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TO BE SOLD, pursuant to an Order of the
High Court of Chancery, in a cause of Donaldson v.
Fairfax, with thy• a- probation o' Vice-Chancellor Kindersley,
in Five Lot,, by Messrs. Holloway and Son, at the George
Hot. 1, Northampton, on SATURDAY, the 26th day 01 Octo-
ber. 1661, at Three o'clock in the Afternoon, very valuable
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THE HON. MRS. YELVERTON.
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Also the First Part, Seventh Thousand. price 25.. ; or the
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"HE PRESEN I DISTRESS IN TRADE
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" GOVERNMENT UPON FIRST PRINCIPLES."
The cause is there predicated of the monetary difficulties ex
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Particulars and condi ions of sale, with plan, may be had
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Mr. Talbot they owed the suggestion by which
these observations could be turned to account for
chemical analysis. The colours, in some instances,
were so closely allied when viewed by the naked
eye that nothing could be seen to distinguish
them; but the moment they were put through the
prim there was a marked and striking difference.
Lithia produced a beautiful red colour to the flame ;
stronchia did the same ; but the difference through
The prism was very apparent. Mr. Wheatstone
gave the first impulse to inquiries into the spectra
of electric light in 1835. He showed a mass of -
various spectra produced by sparks taken from dif-
ferent metals. Each metal had its own peculiar
spark, whether the voltaic or magnetic or common
electrical machine was used as the volatising
power. He further showed that it was not due
to the burning of the metal, for he had experi-
mented in a vessel from which the air was ex-
hausted, and instead of air had used carbonate
,t cid gas, and found the same result to follow.
Professor Miller continued his experiments by
showing the effects of lead and tin, and said that
the presence of other metals might be detected.
Each metal had its own spectrum. Looking at the
spectrum, they knew what metals they were hand-
ling. The same was the case with different gases,
of which the most impalpable trace could be de-
tected. Thus they were able by the lines in the
solar and stellar spectra to ascertain the presence
in these bodies of particular metals and acids.
Using the spectrum microscopically for analytical
purposes, Professor Bunsen discovered in the residue
of a certain spring, a set of lines he had never seen
before, 'and which existed only to the extent of
three grains to the ton. This he called caesium,
from its beautiful blue colour. Rubidium had been
discovered in a similar manner. Having given spe-
cimens of these spectra, the Professor concluded by
thanking those gentlemen who had assisted him to
make the experiments.