The New York herald., 1879-01-31


DALI dated November Z. 1861 is referred 70. He first
in the letter speaAs of his surprise at seeing mag
nifcent blue band for the first time in the spectrum
| of lithium. Thinking the Ethic chloride must
be aduterated with strontium he tested it, and found
| ii was not aduterated. Whence did the blue band
! arise? From the lithium. the points the
| ignited air? DR.. Frankand concludes by saying
.sWhen lithium wire burns In air it emits some
what crimson light; plunge it into oxygen and the
light changes to blush white This seems to indi
cate that high temperature is necessary to bring
veinber ~ 1861. says 81 have just made some fur
| ther experiments with the hthium spectrum. and
they concusively provs that the appearance of the
| blue line depends entirely the temperature. The
spectrum OF lithic chloride, igni;ed in Bunsen's
burner ame does not disclose the fantest trace or
the blue line replace the Bunsen burner by jet of
! hydrogen the temperature Of which is higher than
that OF bunsen burnerD and the ule line appears
faint, it Is true, but sharp and quite unmistakable
| If oxygen now be slowly turned into the jet the
brilliancy of the blue line increases until the temper
ature OF the flame rises high enough to fuse the
! platinum, and thus put an END to the experiment.
! The hydrogen spectrum presents some curious
| phenomena DIR. Frankand and Mr.. Lockyer in 1869
noticed that the Ii line. SO called by Angstrom, ana
| due to the absorption of hydrogen, WAS not to be
seen when low temperatures were employed, and
| concluded therefore, that it indicated Compare
| lively high temperature In the spectrum OF the
suns clromosphere this line is reversed. 1t followed
that when the chromosphere cool enough to alb
| sorb it still OF comparatively high tempera-
ture. They next ascertained that the extremely COM
plicated spectrum of hydrogen could be reduced to
line in the green corresponding to in the solar
spectrum with the employment OF certain tempera-
| The observations of the suns eclipse i'll 1876 made
| by Professor Young help out Mr.. Lockyer's ideas
materially When the hydrogen lines We're most bril-
liant the calcium lines not visible Then, when
the absence OF the lines among the still brilliant
| hydrogen lines indicated probable reduction OF
| temperature calcium lines began to appear, and
when the hydrogen lines were quite absent they were
conspicuous in the spectrum OF the corona
In the spectrum of iridium the strongest line Is one
| of the lines of hydrogen (hl. which has been
sdered.a indication OF relatively high tempera
ture. The other hydrogen line tnear G is absent in
We give Mr.. Lockoyer's Own account of an expert
| ment with metallic Iridium
"A glass tube. with two platinum poles about half
an inch apart. was employed Through this tube
slow current Of air driven after passing through
u u tube foot high containing calcic chloride,
and then through sulphuric acid in VOLTS bottle.
The spectrum Of the spark passing between the
! five Grove cells and medium sized jar being en-
ployed. Careful notes were made OF the brilliancy
and thickness Of the hydrogen lines. as compared
with those Of air. This DONE piece OF metallic ri-
dunn, which placed loose in the tube, shaken
that part of rested against the base OF one
OF the poles and one OF its ends at distance OF
little less than half inch from the base of the
other pole. The spark then passed between the iri-
dum and the platinum; the red and blue lines Of
hydrogen were then observed both by my friend.
Mr.. &. w. Hemming. and myself. Their brilliancy
was most marHeay increasea. lnis unnistahapie .a
of that form of hydrogen which gives us the
h. line alone associated into that form which
that in the photograph we were not dealing with
physical coincidence. but that in the this
it had CONE from the iridium, and that it had regis
tered itself on the Photographic plate although
no
line of hydrogen in tho photograph, while another
form of hydrogen in iridium was distinctly recorded
With the most perfect uberality Mr.. Lockyer ac-
knowledges the important labors Of other men in
the ied and especially does he recognize the
value of the work done by distinguished Italian
astronomers and by Professor 9. A. Young. of tho
United States Mr.. Lockyer makes no claim as yet
IN fha Of
OF metals. although some scientific men think his
work may lead to that; and you need not imagine
London with pure gold from Mr. Lockyer's mine.
It is to be supposed they will begin that work in
Paris in the distant future to fit it for place OF
residence for good Americans
Mr. Lockyer is still young man, in the yigor OF
name win go down to posterty with the names Of
Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Humphrey Davy and Sir John
Herscheil he may live. we hope. to solve ssy many
presses one as being man OF marked ability and en-
rgy of character. He is Of medium stature, and his
voice is clear and loud il he had something to
and knew how to say it. do not propose to vivi-
sect him, but should call him representative Eng
lishman OF the best type and courteous gentleman.
saw him lately in his laboratory and be showed mo
o section OF his mammoth map. "There," said he,
'is three years work thrown away if my views are
correct. The spectra must be relnapped from new
standpoint He spoke Of his Indebtedness TO Mr..
Lewis NJ. rutherford. Of New York. for his admira-
maj" " said he, "and he is not onc-hal appreciated in
America" He showed me Hayden's wonderful geo.
and said there was no greater geologst than
Professor Hayden. asked If he knew Professor
| Huxley talk of him. said he. 'He considers his
researches among the fossils Of the greatest value to
science"
SCIENTIFIC pHRAsRoLooY.
| Abiding to his own researches in science Mr..
Lockyer said he had great difficulty in making the
necessary scientific phraseoogy article he
writing for the Ninetesntt Ceafary simple enough.
"You will have to publish q dictionary with it,"
said l.
| "Yes," said he. sand grammar. too." He thought
it would take long time at least half century, for
scientific men to complete these researches. The
whole study Of nature by means of the spectroscope
is yet in its infancy The voltac arc must be used
troscopic examination of different substances in the
laboratory and Photographic records must take the
line Of inquiry he considers as but drop in the
In a paper which will soon be read before the
| Royal Society Mr.. Lockyer throws light ques
tions which puzzled observers Of the solar eclipse
| this year. He has called that region Of the sun
coiored appearances display themselves during
eclipses the chromosphcre. Very brilliant at times
| are these lines Of the chromosphere especially in
| storms They appear in every part or the suns
circumference and the longest ones have been con-
| sidcred due to hydrogen. coinciding US several OF
them do, with certain of the Fraunhofer lines
which have been referred to that so-called element
1t has been usual for astronomers for the last ten
years to account for these lines by supposing tho
injection OF vapor other metallic vapors into
the chromosphere from the body of the sun.
| From comparison o1 numerous opscrVatons naoe
| by several eminent astronomcrs-anlons them Pro-
lessor O. A. Young, OF the United States-Mr. Lock
| yer has concluded that astronomers have been
| mistaken in thus accounting for the lines in
| the solar chromosphere, and, following out the
| reasoning employed In previous papers. he has OBJ
tanned evidence that the bright lines in the solar
| chronosphere chiefly lines due to the not yet
isolated bases OF the so-cailcd elements. He con-
| sdcrs that the solar phenomena in their totality
in oil probability due to dissertation at the pho
tosphcric level and association at higher levels. In
this way the vertical currents in the solar atInos
phere both ascending and descending. the intense
absorption in spots, their association. with the
zacular and the apparently continuous spectrum Of
the and its structure find easy solution.
Professor Young near TO it,, said Mr.. Lock-
| yer to Professor Young writes as follows:-
Two explanations suggest themselves. The first,
| which seems rather tine more probable Is that the
l their specra were not absolutely pure; either the
iron contained traces of calcium and potassium or
vice versa. IL this supposition is excluded then we
| seem to be driven to the conclusion that there is
some such similarity between the molecules Of the