The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-01

rainbow -colorcd streak OF light, such as would
.larc appeared II the aurora were due TO the
existence of p.Ttis:,ls excited to luminosity
by electric action, u snglc limo of colorcd light
appeared. This Indicated tlat the light Is due
to the incandesccnce of some gas through
which the electric disc'a -,ca In upper air takes
place. But this was rot the circumstance
which attracted surprise Rather, this was To
have been looked for. H. WAS the position of
The line which astonishcd nur physicists. II
the gas had been one which chemists are ac-
o''dintcd with, the bright .inc would have oc-
cupicd The position proper to that gas, and
would at once have indicpte,l its mature. B,i;
there is no known cle;ic'.t that The spectrum
has u bright line where tins ON appeared
The observation has been repeated over and
over again, by AngStrOm, by EtiO Strure, and
| recently by Mr.. Plummrr. always with the
same rcsnltwc cannot tell what the subj
stance may be to whose incandcsccncc or lli-
pnOsity the ailr0rf. owes its brilliancy.
But now - most remarkable discovery has
boon effected. An9strom uas found that the
mysterious line OF the n.,r.'a! spectrum exists
In the spectrum of another object, which had
been thought TO he who'll! different in charac-
ter. Ever since It's discovery by Cassini, the
zodiacal light has been I'm Sheet or interest TO
astronomers. Gradually II theory had been
toned by tic authority Of sisch men as Hum
boldt ana Sir John llcrsci,ea L. vas held That
this appearance is due 10 ihc light reflected
rom multitude of nlnr.a .cosmicul bodies
travelling around the sun ..ssyhin tho orbit of
our earth.
This theory had never batn tested by spec
troscopc analysis. Indeed. the Zodiac;,l light
| shines so family that il was .;Nrlly hoped Tint
lis spectrum could Inc rcndGet, visible. But IL
was confidently anticipated tnit II tile ZOdiacal
light ever were thus analy2el, it3 spectrum
! would be that which the theory required
that IL, II very fiinL reproduction Of tic cuui-
mon solar spectrum.
Now, at length, we hear rOu AngstrOm that
the spectrum Of the Zodiarat light has been
observed. and instead of Dcing, us had been
A sf,,I f.atn af,,1,
presents but u single line. That line is the
| same that We see IN the spcctr;n of the ailro-
ra. In other words, the light ot the ZolIacal
gcam and that OF the aurorul sircamers are
due TO the same sort OF electrt, discharge talk
Ing place In the same medium.
without pretending to fur1he- interpret this
startling result, we may Indicate the promise
1t affords Of explaining o number Of phenom-
cna which have long seemed most perplcNino.
When once we recognise the fact that electric
action Is effective In producing any OF the &C.
icstial lights, We have resource availa-
bio to remove many difficulties. Astrono-
ample, could exhibit the spectrum of tho
incandcsccnt vapOr OF carbon-that Is, u
| spectrum Indicative OF the most intense heat,
when, rs In the case Of Winncck's comet
were farther from the sun than the earth Is.
The action of the sun In exciting electrical dis
charges would be quite sufficient to account
for this and similar phenomena. Again, II
has been long recognized that the pccnlarl-
ties of comets tails seem only eXplicabie us
due TO electrical action; but astronomers were
unwilling to adopt such n thcury without some
positive evidence In its favor. Wct now have
such evidence; and 1t Is most prpbablc that
tho first lOng-tailed comet which iS submitted
to spcctrOscOpc analysis: will eSsablish the
view which Euler put forth moro thnn half u
century ago, that comets tails have some
thing In common with the aurora aud the
Zo1iacal light. 1t would indeed bp strange II
three OF the most mysterious pher 0mcna with
which men of science are acquajlted should
IND their explanation simultaneously.