Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-10-15
THE SPECTROsCOPE.
In some Respects Inc Most Potent and Widely IsefHi Instrsment of science.


 The spectroscope and its results seem
 to 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 armOry
 of science. In the hands of the Rstron-
 Omer 1t can tell what Is going on ID the
 sun and the conditions of the most dls-
 tant stars, and in the hands of the anal yst 1t can detect the adulteratiOns of the cOmmOnest articles of food. Thus all the sections are interested III 1t and its improvements, and the standing Com mIttee on Spectrum Analysis Is one of the most important supported by the association. Dr. Scuuster's report this | year contains a considerable amount of data bearing upon this department of ! scientific progress, and the association IS doing great servlce to science Tn con- 1 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 gwen summary, and the &C., count communicated by Dr. Scbuster and Capt. Aeney, contained LpShing essentially new. Calcium and hydrogso were detected in the sun's corona, and the spectrum showed lines which the astronomers cannot yet read. In sn- other solar paper by Dr. Schuster he suggests that the changes which are noticed in the form of tue corona may be due to the fact that 1t is of meteOnc origin, to some extent revival of a theory at one time popular, that the sun itself was maintained m 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 central light. If Dr. SeImen's bypOthe- SIS IS correct, 1t will be no easy matter for the spectrOscOpist to penetrate the supposed intervening matter, and there fore, Capt. Abney's visit Co the Riffel $500 feet hlghJ was an essentially use ful service. Although he found the spectrum of the sun at that night the same as in London, still he found vas diminutiOn of light as well as of aqueous vapor, and curiOusly an increase in al- cohol, which leads him to conclude that that potent spirit is of celestial origin. Although Dr. Glaisher, who has been miles higher ID a balloon than Capt. Alb ney, doubts the diminutiOn of aqueous vspor. Prof. Langley, one of the ablest spectroscOpists in the United States, es- sentially confirms the Captain's conclu- sions.
 The long paper read by Prof. Lang ley was one of the most valuable con tributed to the meeting, giving as It did the result of spectroscoplc work Tn the rare and pure atmosphere of Pike's Peak, l3,0OO feet above sea level. Capt. Abney has shown that there are rays (in the red) invisible to our rude eyes (though Sir John Lubbock gives reasons for believing that ants can detect them, and Prof. Langley has found under hIs more favorable conditions that there are yet rays which even Capt. Abney has not been able to detect, but which his l bolOmeter has shown. Nearly three | fourths of the whole solar energy, he ! maintains, exists in the invisible DOT ton of the spectrum. Prof Langley ln- | sists on the endorsements introduced | in the way of solar spectruscOpy by our | complicated atmosphere. and belleves l that if we could get outside of this tn | solar spectrum would present 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 l central nucleus. The spectrOscope in | the short period sInce its invention, has | done so much for knowledge of the | sun, and our investigators on both sides l inquiries, that We CBuu0t' Uu9 Oo rr,fclll- | that in the near future they will be able to overcome them
 Then if we go sO the chemical section we find Prof Huntington reporting on the use of the spectrum for chemical re- search, especially m reference to the de- tectlon of the exact composition and condition of metals; and here, also, we find the path of accurate and trust | worthy spectroscOpy beset with diff ! culties. Intimately y associated with this department is the subject of the wave length of the various kinds of light, and hence the importance of Dr. Marshall Watts report of the Committee for the Preparation OfTables of Wave-Lengths-