THE NEW ASTRONOMY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 716, 15 January 1910, Page 15

THE NEW ASTRONOMY.

V SIR WILLIAMMUGGINS'S DISrV ;■'.".'■•; coveries. \; AN: INTERESTING REVIEW.; - '•'] In ; reviewing tho • "Scientific Papers of Sir 'William Huggins".. the "Nation" says:— ■'.'■ ■: ys .'■'.'■'.•'■■ ' '.''.' : il'ri' 165G,: three..years " before Darwin .supplied.the key. in .his ''Origin ,of Species" ■ to. the evolution of man from lower'life-forms, the Kirchhoff hod unlocked the'secret of tho chemical constitution of thosun, Sir William (then Mr.) Huggins '. built V :modest observatory at i'ulse Hillwhich .was to become '.world-' famous in tho. annals of ■ astronomical 'discovery... I'or he "b'nilded' wisor. than he kiiew.". : At'tkat timoitseoincd that tho work of the observer of "that inverted bowl.wo, call the sky" was limited to the conventional' lines of ■■ his : predecessors. At intervals another minor planet would swim "into his ken"; or a; now star' flash and become extinguished; or, as recently iin tho case: of Jupiter,' another satellite ;be added, to the list of /'companions"; or tho number of stars whose distances can be '■ reckoned ', in light-years increased; But that the mystery of .the stuff of which the, heavenly bodies' aro modo would bo solved, was a speculation dismissed .wellnighas. soon as. broached,, for, how was it possible to establish any, physical, relation, between tho ohemistry of the earth and that of .A, mass of matter ninety-three million miles,distant! •■'•■.• ' ': '

:-As.'M.'Declaux. acutely said, "It, is because~scicnCo,>is sure ot (nothing thatiit is over advancing.", And'.in 1802 Wollaston's detection of (four 'dark- lines which.crossed'a, Eiihray:'at .right angles when broken on 'a prisiu, lines which are how- numbered by ;thousands,.set the workers, in celestial, physics :on. a. quest whose;.result, "in .the.hands, of Kirchhoff. was : tho discovery that sodium, iron, arid other terrestrial,'elements are present in the.sun. ..Thereby?Sir :William: Huggins, "dissatisfied," ho 'tolls lis,; "with, the rou- ■ tine; character, of .ordinary work," ; received. the "impetus;,to. the application ,: of : the speetrbscopo to analysis pf;/theT.light*:from.> the 7 so-called,."fixed": etarsi' : whereby, ;thoir :\ chemistry;"might, porehance,be,also known.-' His researches, carried .on-,for x some;,timo.:in conjunction 1 >vith ;'.tho - late' : Dr.:'Allen,'Miller, (and durlng''many.'yeilirft-t6: : th6''ripMsflnt'.time 1 in; still happier':collaboration.with Lady ■Muggins), ,'began ; 'in"-lBl!3:... In> : that .year.. Huxley, pushing Darivin's.; theory. to';iii iiiovitaMo. .conclusion, • demonstrated'/ the; fundamental; unity" of: man;-ipsychically lis;well as-physically,.',irith - every,'living ithing, .a.■ ■.demonstration! 'which rsyhchroulsed.with/the pr.b'pfs pf'fundamentalviihity. of- suii.arid stars,: dud-.tho '.dependence'of.. Jthe'."- orgartio;.on. the.; inorganic: being. no {matter 'of. : vquestion',' 'the tof..all:.phohomonawas.,made manifest.V;lt .was the; birth:of :the-;New.;'Ahthropblogy ;and, tho,-Now. 'Astronomy.: '/. Of •'.; tho .-;trinmphs .achievedf/'trahbeending tho..wild T est-.droduis- of an earlier, Sir. ;Willittm;.:-Hugi[ins,''fns, ypractieally,;.'. tho ..founder of; the 'science -of this majestic volume,;aiid;a preceding one, ;outitled; ■ "Au.;Atlas'.; of Jteprcsentativo ;Stollaiv Spectra," aro ■ alike tho witnesses and,:.tho;recbrd.'::;:' ! ;;;v i r;-:'V;:*, i ':/■-■■' ; ;;<■': :\

;, Upturning: to} tho jspoctrum, :lurchhoff, identified .'sixty" lines' (since .iriorohsed to' more than .201)0) as'duo. to-tho presence, of il-oivand to this/is 'added proof ;of the;,prcsonco -ofj.caloimii, helium'.(which, was: liotidiscovercd oil' till- '; ;eartli till .some tlin6/-afterwards);'coppoi', zmo,- and., other, HiDlals.'■■'■': As tho 'planets'. a«- not. original Sources: of flight, vtheit T.pootra.reseiiibld:th<j'«uii'».spectrum, but somewhat' modified? ;by. I tho! absorptive: pjiai'a'cter-of,tlibiratniOsßliero/' .;.,:':,:;! ■■■ i'Bttt, ;in ■securing-. sucK; results;..-;the method of. analysis;-is simplicity,, itself; colufered ..with that which 'had'■■to.'.to- do? ■ vised vvheu tho Upeetruscbpe' attacked ''tho' .problem;: of ■•rstars' .'Whoee'''(listaiibe '.is''. measurable, not; iii nlilos,' .butviii /'lightyears;.'lv For'; starlight: appears'-as Vouly ? • a tromulous point,, whiclr.tbo most' power- 1 nil telescope, can .increase in brightness,hut.vehrihot 'Convei't; info'' a, disc "■''.; ,To' broaden, it into a .short lino, the star's- ■ image .hiis;' ; to. bo...t'hroßTi'. upon "a 1 narrow slitj-a spectroscope is fisfed to the eye, ond. of.; tho-.telc'scopo, j and ihonj-,by-moans of ii small; reflecting .prism placed .before one-half, -tho slit,,fighi;.front. V terrestrial solirco'at. tho side of .tho tele■scope';, is. sent, into' the 'instrument, to-' Kotherxwith., the .star's light,:. thereby .forming, a ..spectrum'/by ;tho side .of tho stellar spectrum \ for cOliiparisbit- with' it; IhiisJyrasKprcpared',tho;. apparatus:' for Analysis ;of -light radiated at the speed' of above eleven millions of miles per minute ifronr bodies which; in the case".of: Vega, ■ VIS 1 y; , o . n ?,% t y, thousand' millionth part w'the;'Jiglit,,received from' tho sun,-and' tho fact^.rovcaled.,.that': ; Bodium,': ihagrios-: :i^;'.?»f .ifoii :aro: present' iiutbat;star,- : .in-,Smud,:Pollux,'and;.without ;d6ubt,:in all-like.: self-luiriihous -bodies, in. the; infinite spaces,.; In, addition'.to. this, the ■ .nature of;the,'thousands of' hcbula'o, was once'and :for all; settled.'■ .The resolution, ,ot largo , of ; : theso';. into ■ clusters ■ ot minute .stars', by ■.powerful telescopes ■' lent strong support to the:theory that n\V, of them were of. the sahio constitution. But in : ISG4 .Sir William Hugging cx-'l ,aminatiqn,vof-.-.Hie. certain' nebulao disclosed ;tho: presen'co',,'of.brißlit linbs,; throe/of i.which, are due to'.'iy'droV gen.;, 1 bus : the , gaseous -. nature-p'roto-' plasm 'of. ; sidereal systems-of 'all ■■■true-; nebulae (in:which.the imposing nebulaiin Urioiv is included) was demonstrated, and broadly speaking, tho. like applies.ito the, ;I n .K? ut ';, b P.dies.- known- as comets.'- "Sir ■,\Villiam,-. applied',the'spocWoscopo:to the problenvfof. star, direction,, measuring the I '■<£ JHsv b,odies', .at;: : i'ncohceivablo' ?!&$m raced'imfromi.',oout.: S sim J '• ™* ■ivas.-'arrivcd ;0t ;by:;cttlcukt ug.'tho','relativo,vaisplace: I ,ment'of; the lines -in the' spectrum,,as, : tor example,,:a.minute.sliift ofithe For 'hydrogen ■;. line ,iii.;the. spectrum ''of; Sirius-, , mdicnted..that-that star 'is receding .from ■, ;,;tn« solar system' at'a.spoed of'eighteen ■ 'miles ; per, second' of: time: to-S. - f av °urablorcircumstances;" Sir 'William,; says,' "the . : spectroscOpo/ enables ■. ü ßjto.,mpastirß , .-to-,'nrithin*a''''niilo';pe'r--6e&'' oud, .or; even; less, .tho-'rate.'.of: motion. iw'-'t'ir ls3^" 11111 . w . nnt: of 6f the stellar lines with-tho sdnio lines pro-' ducod:,up6n;;tlievsarth'mby'-'safblyihe interpreted--: as'; revealing- tho'?.! velocity ■'' of approach«or:of.recessionsbetween'tho star and.;tho.earthy. »As;for'thb : :movcment; of • our-.tiystera,... it" appears'to "bo" towards a pointiin the.constellation -'Hereules; \rlulorecent;: observation, lends- support: to a theory .that the; stellar 'systenvis Vwhole comprises/,twO.'genoral; drifts:, of', stars rushing in nearly opposite directions', As the spectroscope "reveals What, appear to" bo stages: .-.pi., condensation- in -.the matter otthb-universe,-, it-'is probable: that the' conclusion as to star evolution and dissolution'drawn from their colours will be found.--.to ;be valid.- -;, That .fascinating branch of. cosmic dynamics 'has not escaped . tho- vigilant eye. of Sir 'William Huggina; but the life-history of .star's -re-' mains among speculations- which may bo' converted .into certainties when-wo know more i about, tho, disintegration of: the' so- , called clementsr' : '-■- ;:-•:■;■'-,■.. n To W s t-V st ' r ' of - r 'P reat ' iclii °wmcri(3':"(J)' : the establishment of the identity of stUlf bet,woen our system'/and, otter, stellar systems; (2)' of - the, direction. in which' the stars are?moving; (3)' of tho nature of many of tho nobulao; (4) the revelation of by the application of phbtog-. raphy—enough in themselves- to'. : represent', the ceaseless labours, of a long life—there might- be added.others, such, for example; as,the method.of viewing the prominences in, the uneclipsod'sun; bufthcir secondary ~importance, is warrant for. omission from the. present attempt to compress in nntochnical lnngudgo . tho main contents l of a volume with'which the expert alone can adequately.deal. -It is a talo'of wonder, tho effect .of which is deepened by' the .'absence of alt rhetoric and thepreseuco. of...modesty : in'.' the .'narration, .pulled, must.be tho intelligence which fails to be quickened. thereby; to poriderings over mail's: stupendous advance in knowledge, or to' bb touched .by the reflection with what added pathos the.final monition, "thus far shalt. Thou go, and po farther," : comes homo to. tho rare .truth-seeking souls typified- by theS an-' thor -whose discoveries are the subject-' matter of this volume.—"Tho Nation,"