The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-02-01
THERE WITH LONG BLOODY HARE, A
BLAZING STAR
THREATENS THE WORLD FLAMES PLAGUE
AND WAR"

EDITOR STAR:-In the morning pa
per of this date appears the follow
ing:
Berkeley, January 1.-THE SUB.
stance of which all comets are COM
posed may be determined by scientists
by study of new comet of which Prof.
A. o. .Leuschner, head of the students
observatory at the University of Cali
fornia, received word today in tele-
gram from Astronomer Innes at johann
nesburg, South Africa = The dis
covery of the comet is of great scienti-
tic interest said Leuschner, because
of its position relative. to the sun.
Spectrographs will be taken, and by
study of these the scientists will
be able to determine the composition
of comets. The sun rays in the spec
trograph will make this achievement
possible
If Professor Leuschners words are
reported correctly it would appear by
the foregoing that the unique oppor-
tunity to determine the composition
Of comets, the first of its kind is pre-
sented to astronomical workers by
this advent of the most recent visitant
from outer space. The Professor
words seem to ignore the early and
first work so ably done, and lucidly
explained by Sir William and Lady
Higgins, and set forth in a superb
volume on STELLAR Spectra, in 1899.
In the case of the three faint comets
of 1866, 1867 and January 1868 Sir Will
liam discovered that part of their light
was peculiar to them, and that the
light of the last one consisted mainly
of three bright bands or Fittings In
telEe, therefore, he says, was the
great expectancy with which he uI-
rected the telescope with its attach
ed spectroscope to the much brighter
comet of June 1868. The. comet bands
seen by Sir William on the previous
evening were identical in characters
with the fittings of Olefant gas. And
now on the 22nd of June 1868 Sir Will
liam proceeded to work. He filled a
small holder with the gas named (Ole-
iant and arranged an apparatus in
such manner that the gas container
could be attached to the end of the
telescope, and its spectrum, when
spark was taken in it could be seen
side by side with that of the comet.
The evening was fine; and on ac-
count of the exceptional interest OF
for the first time the
spectrum of an earthly gas with that
of a comets light, he invited Dr..
Miller to come and make the crucial
observation with him. The eXpec-
tation he had formed was fully con-
firmed The comets spectrum when
seen together with that from the gas /!
agreed in all respects with it. The
comet, though subtle as the Sphinx
had at last yielded up its secret. The
principal part of its light was emitted
by luminous vapors of carbon. Phil !
Trans, clviii. 1868, PIP. 555-64.
In addition to that highly interest |
ing fact, in 1881 with the additional
help of photography Sir William also
brought to light the new KnowIeoge |
that nitrogen, as well as carbon and |
hydrogen, exists in comets.
If, sir, it is not trespassing too much /
on your space, let me say 4 few words
the tails of comets. Max
we'll in 1873 in his great theoretical
-reatise on the nature of electricity, |
showed that heat rays must exercise !
a pressure upon the body upon when J
they fall, but in spite of his great au- !
Lhority, astronomers overlooked this |
important law, and it has remained for |
Syante Arrhenius, the eminent Swe- |
dish Physicist, to show the remarkable
part that the principle of the me-
chanical radiation pressure of heat has
played in the evolution of the universe. !
We are apt to think Of gravitation as
he all dominating law in the physical
world, and so it is, when acting upon
masses of matter, but let matter be-
come greatly subdivided, and then the
aw of radiation pressure holds sway,
Is it acts not on masses but on sur
ace and in proportion as the subdivi-
sion increases, so the repelling energy
If light is increased, and when the
of a spherule becomes
exactly equal to the wave-length Of the
'adiation, the radiation pressure Will
lct at its maximum, and it will then
urpass gravity not less than nineteen
ines and i'm some instances a reDul-