, 1866-05-01
From CAam5ers's journal, February 24.J
SCIENCE AND ARTS.

lic WcdLicl, COSilOlOSy, cIHlStdlOu, sup
wreck, scurvy, and the kine-pest. Some
of the recent results of science, p%articu-
larIy as regards instruments Of observa-
ton and representations of celestial phe-
nomena, were to be seer at the conyersa-
zione given by Mr. Warren de Ia Rue,
President of the Royal Astronomical So
ciety, at Willis's Rooms. Among the
most remarkable objects there exhibited,
one was a portion Of a meteorite which
fell in the south Of France in May 1864
it consists of minute crystals of sulpher
and a rare kind of iron mingled with a
peaty substance resembling London mud,
which falls down to powder when placed
in water. It was lucky, therefore, that
no rain was falling at the time the me-
teorite fell, otherwise, the fragments
would have been washed away, and thus
lost to science. Another remarkable OBJ
ject was a photograph of the solar spec
trum by NJ. B~eequerel, a celebrated
French chemist, in which all the colours
have their natural appearance, red, blue,
and so forth and not different tints OF
brown, as is usual in photographs. This
suggests the inquiry If the solar spec
trum can be photographed in its natural
colours, why not other objects? Agreat
triumph is in store for any artist or chem
ist who will photograph a landscape in
the natural colours.
A SirM Memoir on Radiation anil d.
sorptiOn, by DR.. TyndalI, read before the
Royal Society, gives particulars of some
experiments on the subject which were
attended by unexpected results. Ever
since DIR Franklin laid small pieces of
cloth on snow, and noticed hat the dark
est-coloured sank the deepest, it has been
supposed that dark colours absorb and
radiate more heat than light ones. But
DR. Tyndall shews c0ncIusively that this
is not the case but that radiation and
absorption depend on other conditions
than mere colour, and that in a number
of instances the lightest colours absorb
and radiate the most heat. Those who
wish to study the question with full de-
tails, will do well to look out for the
next part of the Philosophical transactions,
in which the paper will be published.
Mr. Higgins, FRS, who has rendered
good service to astronomy by his spec
trum analysis of stars and nebul@, has
added somewhat to our knowledge OF the
constitution OF comets. HI Lhc CouISt VI
last month, he got an observation OF
Comet I, 1866, and found the nucleus TO
be in the condition of ignited gas, shin
ing by its own light but the coma, or
tail, having no light of its own, shines
by reflected light, in the same way as
clouds do in our own atmosphere. This
is an interesting branch of cosmical sci
ence, and when next a brilliant comet
appears in our sky, the opportunity will
be seized for a series of observations,
which, so far as instrumental means per-
NIT, will settle the question.
We have recently seen a s~elf-register-
ing barometer which appears to be worth
notice, inasmuch as it is combined with
a clock, and can be placed on a mantel-
piece or bracket. The graduated por-
lion of the mercurial column is sheWn at
the uppe part Of the case, and clock-face
at the lower part. Working connections
are made between the mercury and the
clock work; a sheet ofpaper to serve for
a day, week, or month is wound round a