INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1872. xxi 



Rocky Mountains, where it was supposed that the position 

 would be extremely favorable for astronomical observation. 

 The selection of a coast survey station at Sherman offered 

 the desired opportunity, and Professor Young was sent thith- 

 er, with his 9-J-inch telescope and the necessary spectroscopes, 

 as member of a party of which Colonel R. D. Cutts of the sur- 

 vey was the chief. The result of getting rid of one fourth of 

 the atmosphere which is the great foe of solar spectroscopy 

 was that the number of bright lines in the spectrum of the 

 chromosphere was increased to 273 more than double the 

 number formerly known to exist. Among them have been 

 detected those belonging to the vapor of a number of metals 

 found on the earth, especially iron, magnesium, and tita- 

 nium ; and there are besides a great number not identified as 

 pertaining to any terrestrial substance. 



Nothing positive has been done toward clearing up the 

 mystery which surrounds the constitution of comets, of the 

 solar corona, of the zodiacal light, and of the aurora. But 

 the theory which connects comets and meteors has received 

 a most striking confirmation. On the evening of November 

 27 a great meteoric shower Was seen, and the direction of 

 the meteors was exactly that of the lost Biela's comet, the 

 orbit of which the earth was passing at that very time. The 

 coincidence was such as to leave no room for doubt that the 

 shower arose from a cloud of meteoroids accompanying the 

 comet in its orbit. 



The feature of most general interest in Meteorological Sci- 

 ence has been the assembling of the preliminary congresses 

 at Bordeaux and at Leipsic. These meetings have had for 

 their more especial object the preparation for the general In- 

 ternational Congress to be held in 1873 in Vienna. The 

 Leipsic Congress was attended by many men prominent in 

 their respective countries, and the desire for uniformity in 

 matters of measurements and reductions was so strongly ex- 

 pressed that we may expect no long time to elapse before 

 important reformations are effected. 



The year 1872 has seen the. establishment of additional ex- 

 tended national systems of weather reports and storm sig- 

 nals those, namely, of Canada, Denmark, New South Wales, 

 and Sweden. Only through such national offices, and by 

 help of the telegraph, does it seem possible to hope for satis- 



