New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-23


liquid, to vapor, to gas' and that Suop S''""e
consists simply of more rapid Vipra'ioI
the atoms of tho substances themselves J" !"
difficult to most persons to conceive VI '"'
fact that even tho most solid Substances 'o.
sist of vibrating atoms, but 1t may ASSIST '"o
popular conception to consider that tno ",O'i'
are 40 small, relatively, to the spaces 'nUy
move In. that they have been not unJuSuJ
likened to planets circling in their Orbits -,
Spcctrm ANALYSIS deals exclusively WIN
light: In other words, with the impressions
made upon our optic nerves by waves OF ether
set in motion by some substance whose atoms
arc vibrating with enormous rapdity, so that
it is red-hOt, or, moro probably, "hiVo.ho''
The analysis consists in passing inc hghC
through a prism so that it Is dciectoa anu
divided into sot Of separate colors calicu
spectrum. Solids and liquids heated to iumn-
business have no variety of spectra; they
merely give what is called contln-
nous spectrum of tho primary colois'
tho same for each. But every vapor or
gas has separate spectrum, consisting of
series of colored lines or bands peculiar to
| itself, and always occupying the same position
| by measurement in spectrum OF q gwen
| size. AS every known substance can DO con-
yerted into luminous gas or yapor, there Is
| thus provided q means for its identification.
Furthermore, il white light be transmitted
| through any luminous gas or vapor and thch
divided by prism, in tho continuous spec
trnm thus obtained there is found series OF
black lines taking the place of whatever series
| of colored lines may DO characteristic OF the
particular gas or vapOr.
| With this knowledge in hand, the light from
| sun and stars, from flmy nebula and wander
| ing comet from fleeing meteOrs and gjlmimcr-
| ING auroras has been arrested md compelled
to tell the story Of its birth, to render up the
secret of its existence. And as the sun is not
only ono of tho fixed stars, but exceedingly
similar in constitution to great, though not
the largest number of important ones-being
yellow star, like Arcturus OF Capela-iC Is
desirable TO have the leading facts in IFS case
to begin with. 1t is largely with reference 10
| this analysis that such eclipse expeditions as
that of which particulars are elsewhere gwen
in the report of Prof, PIERCE, Superintendent
of the United States Coast Survey. acquire in
terest and importance. Tho expeditions
Of England and Franco TO tho East
Indies and Australia with reference to
the eclipse of last December arc slowly
contributing O few of the items OF
information gathered. The spectroscope some
time ago dispelled the belief previously held
by many astronomers, that in the interior OF
dark spots on the sun molten or send
nucleus is visible; but rendered it probable,
nevertheless, that there is such nucleus, as
! that alone would be likely to give the con-
tinuOus solar spectrum. The light from THIS
| nucleus has to pierce series OF luminous
yapors OF atmOspheres before it IS fairy clear
| of the sun; and the dark spots which are
believed TO be riffs in vapOronS clouds, con-
tain within their worthless vapors hotter per-
hans. but certainly more condensed than the
surrounding clouds. Such vapOrs, such CLOUDS,
such atmospheres Iron, calcium, barium,
magnesium. sodium, heated till they are
TRANSPARENT gases Outside of this an
| envelope of red-hot hydrogen gas,
saw 5000 miles in thickness, called
n chromosphere, in which there frequent
eruptionsl Dr. Young of Dartmouth College,
one of the most successful of spectroscopic
observers, on the 7th of September last, saw
! an explosion that threw rcd-hot hydrogen up
100000 miles in air. Ar7 Well, it consists of
q bright white gas, called the corona, lying on
the red-hot hydrogen, and one observer with
the English eclipse expedition, writing from
India last December, says it has o definite
limit at an altitude from the SUMS surface of
% times our earth's diameter. Outside of this,
or more probably part of it, for observers
differ. there is a grand aurcoIe-a luminous
halo of star pointed rays.
| This corona and halo, visible only at the
browning moment of total solar eclipses have
furnished a field Wherein men of science
have been testing their weapons, not to say
their tempers They have declared that this
| light gave continuous spectrum, but they
! did not themselves believe it proceeded from
a substance either hotter or more condensed
than the red-hot hydrogen below it, Letters
| just received from the British observers in
, india admit the radial structure of the COrOna5
| that IT, that it seems 10 consist Of streams m
dating as if forced outward from the sun :
| thus confirming the American observations of
| Aug z, 1859, which were received at the
time with much increduity. Prof. Hardness of
the U. 9. Naval Observatory, in his official re-
port Of the eclipse expedition Of Dec. %, 1870,
states his reasons for believing the corona a
gaseous envelope of which hydrogen is al
element, And now NJ. Jansen of the French
| expedition, writing from Sboloor, Dec. 49,
| 1871, seven days after the eclipse, claims that
he has solved the riddle. The spectrum Of the
corona is not continuous, but exceedingly
! complex, containing so many bright lines as
to have caused this mistake about it. lie
finds in il some weak hydrogen; some of the
known constituents of the sun itself, notably
! the vapOr of sodium; and most particularly
| that famous line, "1474," found also in the