Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-06
THE sPECTROsCOPE.
I'm some Respects the Moss Potent
and Widely Useful Instruments OF
Science.
London Times.

London Times.
The spectroscope and its results seem
10 be coming more and more prominent
ly forward at every successive meeting
OF the association. The instrument Is
IN some respects the most potent and
widely useful weapon in all the armorv
OF science. In the hands of the astrono-
mer 1t can tell US what is going on in the
sun and the condition of the most dis.
tant stars, and in the hands of the ANALYST
1t can detect the adulteration of the com
monest articles of food Thus all the
sections are interested in it and its i'm.
provement, and the Standing Committee
on Spectrum Analysis is one of the
most important supported by The asso-
citation. DR.. Schuster's report this year
contains a considerable amount of data
bearing upon this department of scien-
tific progress, and the association is
doing a great service to science in con.
tinuing to support the committee. No
better method could be adopted, not
only Of improving the instrument, but of
collecting and sitting the information
obtained by those who work with it.
Of the results obtained by the spec
trOscOpe at the recent eclipse we have
already given q summary, and the &C
count communicated by DR.. Schuster
and Captain Abney contained nothing
essentially new. Calcium and hydrogen
were detected in the suns corona,
and the spectrum showed lines which the
astronomers cannot yet read. In another
solar paper by Dr. Schuster, he suggests
that the changes which are noticed in
the form of the corona may be partly
due to the fact that it is of meteoric
origin, to some extent a revival of a
theory at one time popular, that the sun
itself was maintained in fuel by the
groups of meteOrs spread all over the
system. One great difficulty in solar
spectroscopY is to detect what really be-
longs to the sun and what originates
either in the earth's atmosphere or in the
space which separates us from the cen
trail light If DIR. Siemen's hY-
pothesis is correct, it will be
no easy matter for the spectre
sOopist to penetrate the supposed inter
vening matter, and, therefore. Captain
Abney's visit to the Riffel Is, 500 feet
high was an essentially useful service.
Although he found the spectrum of the
sun at that height the same as in London,
still he found vast dlminution of light
as well as of aqueous vapOr, and, curl
ously, an increase in alcohol, which leads
him to conclude that that potent spirit
is of celestial origin. Although DR..
Glaisher, who has been miles higher in a
balloon than Captain Abney, doubts the
diminutiOn of aqueous vapor. Professor
Langley, one of the ablest spectroscopists
in the United States, essentially confirms
the Captains conclusions.
The long paper read by Prof. Langley
was one of the most valuable contribu-
ted to the meeting, giving as it did the
results of spectroscopic work in the rare
and pure atmosphere of Pixies Peak, 49,
600 feet above sea level. Captain Alb
ney has shown that there are rays Gin the
red) invisible to our rude eyes Though
Sir John Lubbock gives reasons for be-
lieving that ants can detect them), and
Professor Langley has found under his
more favorable conditions that there are
yet rays which even Captain Abney has
not been able to detect, but which his
bolometer has shown. Nearly three
fOurths of the whole solar energy, he
maintains, exists in the invisible portion
of the spectrum. Prof. Langley insists on
the embarrassments introduced in the
way of solar spectroscOpy by our COM
plicated atmosphere, and believes that if
we could get outside of this the solar
spectrum would present a very different
aspect. Even the corona of the sun and
the solar atmosphere itself must be
pierced before we are able to say what is
the real composition of the central nu-
cleus. The spectroscope, in the short
period since its invention, has done so
much for knowledge of the sun, and
our investigators on both sides of the
Atlantic are evidently so fully alive to
the difficulties that beset their inquiries,
that we cannot but be hopeful that in
the near future they will be able to over
come them.
Then if we go to the chemical section
we find Prof. Huntington reporting on
the use of the spectrum for chemical re
search, especially in reference to the
detection of the exact composition and
condition of metals; and here, also, we
find the path of accurate and trustworthy
spectroscopy beset with difficulties. Init
matelY associated with this department
is the subject of the wave length of the
various kinds of light, and hence the i'm
pOrtance of DR.. Marshall Watts report
of the Committee for the Preparation of
Tables of Wave Lengths.