Chase.] 566 [jan. 19, 



Photoclynamic Notes, VII. By Pliny Earle Chase, LL.D. 



{Read hefore the American Philosophical Society, January 19, 18S3.) 



302. Combined Cometary Ilarmonies. 



In TTote 395, I sliowed that the primitive phyllotactic wave-tendencies 

 in the spectrum of Comet "Wells, were modified by linear oscillations, and 

 also by two seemingly independent harmonic progressions. One of the 

 arithmetical progressions which formed the harmonic divisors had a miss- 

 ing term, \ -\- h, for which Huggins observed no corresponding line. Upon 

 further examination, I find that the completion of the harmony, by insert- 

 ing the provisional wave length, /?i =:r « -=- (1 -j- 6) = 4583.4, furnishes 

 a phyllotactic bond between the two observed harmonic progressions. For 

 4583.2 = ^' -|- 4 (y5-^). and [i^ represents a projectile locus of rotary oscilla- 

 tion between yj and y. IvCoreover, the locus of the center of rotary oscilla- 

 tion, f (/5-j') =50.8, helps to determine phyllotactically the value of a, 

 since f(a-y?) =50.625. 



303. Telephonic Analogy. 



The telephone shows the influence of liarmonic oscillations in successive 

 media of different elasticity, and it may perhaps furnish suggestions which 

 will prove useful in investigating the persistence of solar energy. The 

 atmospheric sound-waves strike the diaphragm, exciting metallic sound- 

 waves ; these, in the mechanical telephone, are transmitted through the 

 wire to the receiving diaphragm, where they excite new atmospheric 

 sound-waves, which awaken audible sound-waves in the tympanum of the 

 listener. In the electric telephone, the metallic sound-waves modulate 

 the electric waves, which are forwarded with much greater speed than the 

 ordinary metallic waves, afTecting the air in the receiver and the ear of the 

 hearer in the same way as in the mechanical telephone. In a communication 

 to the American Philosophical Society, March 21, 1873 (Proc, xiii, 149-54), 

 I pointed out harmonies of light and sound, which, with the identity of 

 Note 280, account for these successive transformations. Berthelot's ex- 

 plosive waves, (Notes 276, 278) must similarly produce luminous and 

 electrical waves in Sun's atmosphere, and thus contribute towards the 

 mainteuaace of solar radiant energy. 



304. Amount of Solar Thermal Radiation. 

 A. Ritter, (Wied. Annalen, 1882, No. 10), estimates the solar radiation 

 at 14,000 calories per square metre per second. This is equivalent to 

 3970100 foot-pounds per square foot. If tlie Sun were surrounded with an 

 atmosphere like our own, but of superficial density proportional to the 

 gravitating pressure, the pressure would be about 420 pounds per square 

 foot. The radiation, therefore, would be sufUcient to maintain a constant 

 circulation of the entire atmosphere, at the rate of 9467 feet per second, 

 which is but little more than half as great as the explosive velocity of 



