136 Annual Retrospect. [Jan., 
that planets, according to their positions in space, are physically so 
constituted as to suffer nothing from any loss of solar heat or light. 
The question of the existence of an atmosphere in the Moon is 
re-opened by the fact observed by Mr. Huggins, that the spectrum 
of a star a little before and at the moment of its occultation by the 
dark limb of the Moon, exhibited several phenomena characteristic 
of the passage of the star’s light through an atmosphere. The in- 
dications which will be found in our Chronicles of the advances of 
knowledge in this direction, by the aid of spectrum analysis and 
astronomical photography, would lead us to believe that many of our 
views respecting the conditions of planets and stars will receive con- 
siderable modification, if they are not destined to undergo an entire 
change. The solar photosphere and the solar spots have received a 
large share of the attention of astronomers. A great number of 
remarkable phenomena have been observed, but it would be prema- 
ture to state that any positive facts had been determined. Itis most 
satisfactory to know that the Hofrath Schwabe has given the Royal 
Astronomical Society his valuable collection of sun-drawings, and 
his solar observations from 1825 to the end of 1864. This, the 
most remarkable series of continuous observations ever made by a 
single man, has enabled us to determine the law of periodicity 
observed by the solar spots. The ‘Researches on Solar Physics’ 
by De la Rue, Stewart, and Loewy, of which the first series has 
recently been published, brings all the observations together, and 
thus greatly aids the inquiry. Professor John Phillips and Mr. 
Dawes have been directing their well-trained attention to the planet 
Mars. They are rendering us well acquainted with the physical 
features of that planet, and proving the repetition of many 
terrestrial phenomena upon it, showing, indeed, that the character 
of the climate of Mars is not very different from that of our great 
continents. 
Passing from Astronomy and the applications of Chemistry to the 
necessities of that science, we must briefly remark on the progress 
made by chemists during 1865. The period has been one of consider- 
able anxiety; to many, a period of transition is always so. The 
unmanageable names which the necessities of discoveries in organic 
chemistry have introduced, has rendered necessary the introduction 
of a more precise and satisfactory system of notation than that 
