NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



ON THE 



PROGRESS OF SCIENCE FOR THE YEAR 1864. 



THE most noticeable events in the history of the progress of science 

 for the year 1864, have been, first and foremost, the remarkable dis- 

 coveries made by Messrs. Huggins and Miller, of England, through 

 the process of "spectrum analysis;" and the great additional light 

 that has been thrown upon the subject of the "antiquity of the 

 human race," and the contemporaneous existence of man with certain 

 of the extinct animals. Other matters of prominent interest are the 

 continued development of the business of obtaining and utilizing 

 petroleum ; the continued investigations of Tyndall and others in 

 respect to the properties of light and heat ; the application of photog- 

 raphy to sculpture and topography ; the investigations in respect to 

 the use of steam expansively ; sewage utilization ; meat preservation 

 and packing, and fish culture ; and the results of unremitting experi- 

 mentation in all that relates to military and naval warfare. An 

 exceedingly interesting and suggestive paper will also be found in 

 this volume, by Prof. Draper, in relation to the " Transitions of Mat- 

 ter." 



The discoveries of Messrs. Huggins and Miller, and especially of 

 the first-named investigator, in respect to the nebulas, have been 

 truly characterized by English authority as by far the most wonderful 

 and interesting that have ever been recorded in the whole history of 

 science ; and cannot fail to excite the most intense interest. The 

 nebulae which Mr. Huggins has observed, are six of the so-called 

 " planetary nebulas," and an equal number of nebula? with a more or 

 less distinctly bright luminous centre. The intent of the inquiry 

 has been, What is the condition of this nebulous matter ? Is it highly 

 gaseous, expanded to an enormous area in space ? or is its luminosity 



caused, as some have considered, by myriads of solid masses coming 

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