The Hawaiian gazette., 1870-03-09
WEDNESDAY,, MARCH 9, 1870.
Scientific Achievements of Last
t Year. i .

|
The year which has just ended will perhaps be re-
membered longest that in which the first railroad
was completed across this continent and that in
which the SueI Canal extended the Mediterranean
Sea eastward to India changes which, together with
the new line Of Pacific Mail steamships from the Col
den Gate to China, have practically shortened by
one-haf the average time required for journey
around the world. But there other proofs Of real
progress in the world, which may one day be regar
ded not inferior to these although the noise they
make at their coming is nothing beside the aecls-
nations with which Chrstendom has greeted the new
pathways open to trade. These are found in the sub
stantial additions which have been made to human
knowledge in the domain of science the advances by
which the mind Of man has pressed forward into
what have always been unknown realms.
Chief among these are doubtless the achievements
of the spectroscope especially in the province of
Economical OPTICS 1t is but few years since this in
strUment Of research into the hands of i1vest
gators but it has already proved itself second in i'm
poranee only to the telescope and the microscope, in
extending acquaintance with the laws of the uni
verse. Indeed, we may say that any one Of these
three instruments alone, in the present state of
science, would afford not 1.-THE of the resources
which the combined battery Of the three, assisting
another places in the hands of aggressive intel
ects, laying siege to that "a workshop Of nature
which Goethe declared to be forever inaccessible"
There results of speetroseopie
achieved during the last year, which pass beyond all
the boldest antcipations Of its inventors Per-
haps the most brilliant of them is the method of de-
termining the "proper motions " of the stars,
when they in light line to or from our The
spectrum formed by prism, dispensing the rays of
light is the result of the law that these rays
fracted less, according to the length of the
" waves" of which they consist. Now, if star is
moving away from toward us in space, mathe
matician calculate how much any given ray, To-
Gated the spectrum, for instance, by any of the
dark lines Of Fraunhofer, will be dispatched thereby
1t is found, in fact, that in a number Of the fixed
stars the dark lines which indicate the presence of
the ineandescent yapor of hydrogen of iron are
actually displaced, but always uniformly and in de-
gree which indicates by calculation the direction and
rate of motion of the To appreciate the impor
ance Of this discovery it must be remembered thar,
previously it was supposed that such motion could
possibly be detected unless by observations continued
long enough to establish a progressive and regular
gain loss in brightness of each star observed that
is to say, continued for many thousands of years.
The very recent discovery also made by the spec
troscope of the identity of the Aurora Boreals with
the zodacal fight and of both with the sur
rounding the when totally eclipsed, is which
yet, indeed is a stumbling block to astronomers,
but which to lead them to the very verge Of
wonderful revelation. For it is always the most
mysterious facts, the most unaecountable Observa-
ton, that prepare the for the greatest advances
in knowledge An exception to any law already
known is to prove only instance of some
greater law waiting to disclose itself
Indeed, the activity with which new facts concern
ing the solar system have been collected during the
last year itself of the wonders Of science 1t is
but short time since the astronomy of onr sys-
tenn was regarded complete in outline, and only to
Be filed up by painful and abstract researches perfect
ing our knowledge of the several bodies in detail
which could have interest fer the general reader
But the whole intelligent world is filed with the
renOwnof inquiries into the structure of the SUM- the
past history of its SYSTEM the storm in Its atmosphere
the nature of its nebulous appendage, and into
the exact figures of its distance from the earth-a
question, however on which important addition is
expected what is known, until the transit
of Venus, December S, 1874.
The other sciences have been less active of late
although some of them have attained only results of
less general interest. In chemistry there has been
great progress made in improving the nomenclature
and in the methods of exact analysis. Many Of its
practical applications, too, have heen most prom
ising none more than the improvements in the
manufacture of iron and steel rom the ore, and in OBJ
tanning illuminating gas. In zoology and pal@ontol-
Ogy there has been zeal shown in Germany than
here and, although there have been new works
forming era in these sciences. yet an era in popu
lar understanding and love of them has certainly been
brought about in that country where the people gath
together by thousands whenever such man as Vir
chow Haeckel or Yogt promises scientific lecture
en- questions which, but few years ago, regard
ed the exclusive concern of few specially learned
men.
The close of the year has been marked by making
public the results of expedition sent out by the
British Government to explore, by dredging, the
depths of the sea. This attempt has been far more
successful than its projectors dared to hope and has
resulted in proving the existence of life in great
riety Of forms at depths which supposed to be
demonstrably utter waste Eight, at least, of the
forms found in great depths species of which
known tertiary fossils, but supposed to have
been extinct for thousands of ages. Wehaverecenty
had occasion comment the crucial Importance Of
these results in their bearing upon many unsettled
questions of geology and zoology butthey are too
cent to allow any judgement to be formed yet of
the influence they will ultimately have in modifying
the doctrines of geological time, those concern
ing the permane of species. e11Ea
One lesson will be learned from the triumphs Of
mind to which have referred, from others like
them which have been achieved in the same time:
that no problem which be distinctly set before hu
man science is to be dispared Of There is not with
in the reach of imagination an inquiry which concerns
the laws of the visible world that seems hope
less to-day than of those recently and sat
isfactorily solved.