THE LATE SIR WILLIAM HUGGIXS. 357 



of wide slit, in conjunction with a powerful train of prisms, 

 Huggins discovered a means of continually following the 

 changes of form of those stupendous flames. 



In 1861 he first definitely began to study the constitution of 

 the planets and what are generally termed the "fixed stars"; 

 by degrees he successfully overcame the vast difficulties due to 

 the relatively small quantities of light which those distant 

 bodies present to the spectroscope. Not only was he thus 

 enabled to infer that other planets of our solar system possessed 

 atmospheres, but he also conclusively demonstrated that in the 

 stars, no less than in the sun, hydrogen, sodium, magnesium, 

 calcium, and iron exist. The presence of dense and heated 

 atmospheres of hydrogen in the heavenly bodies received its 

 first confirmation when the meteoric iron of Lenarto was 

 analysed, and yielded nearly three times its volume of a gas 

 which was mainly hydrogen under great pressure. 



The researches of Huggins with respect to nebulae showed 

 that many of these mysterious objects consist of masses of 

 luminous gas. The light of comets he found to be partly 

 reflected sunlight, and partly dtie to the comets themselves. 

 He was the first to find, in the spectroscope, by the displace- 

 ment to right or left of the transverse lines of the spectrum, 

 a means of calculating the movements of stars along the line 

 of sight, i.e., to or from the earth. The ingenious method 

 whereby these calculations are made resulted from Huggins' 

 observations of the displacements of the hydrogen lines in the 

 spectrum of Sirius, and was fully described by its inventor 

 in his Presidential address to the British Association in 1891. 



Sir William was twice awarded the Royal Society's medal, 

 and twice the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 

 Of the latter society he was President from 1876 to 1878. In 

 1875 he began his great task of photographing the ultra-violet 

 regions of the spectra of the stars, and the results of his 

 labours in this direction appear in his marvellous " Atlas of 

 stellar spectra." in the compilation of which he was devotedly 

 assisted by Lady Huggins, who has also been a life-long 

 worker in the cause of astronomical science. 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. 



Saturday, April i6th : A. McArthur Johnston, M.A., M.I.M.M., F.C.S., 

 President, in the chair. — " Test for Prussia Acid " : Dr. J. M oir. The 

 principle of the test is the oxidising action produced by the addition of a 

 cupric salt to prussic acid. If hydrocoeruhgnone be also added it is instantly 

 oxidised to an orange yellow, if the solution be very dilute, and in stronger 

 solution a red precipitate with a violet lustre is produced. Benzidine may be 

 substituted with the production of an indigo blue colour. The test with 

 hydrocoerulignone is sensitive to the extent of one part in 5,000,000 of water. 

 — " The treatment of accumulated slime, and the use of filter presses for 

 clarifying slime solution and bye-products " : J. D. O'Hara. A comparison 

 between the filter-press treatment of accumulated slime and the decantation 

 and Adair-Usher processes. — " Some experiments on smelting titaniferous 

 iron ore " : Prof. G. H. Stanley. A detailed record of furnace experi- 

 ments conducted by the author. Although titaniferous iron ore is more 

 refractory than ordinary iron ores, the author concludes that there is no 

 reason' why it should not be successfully smelted, even if at the cost of an 

 increased fuel consumption. 



