1869,] On some Becent SjpedroseopiG Besearches. 209 



the object in view to produce ice, and, in fact, there may be a very- 

 great advantage gained by not doing so. Thus, for instance, Mr. 

 King has, by an ingenious contrivance, arranged the working of his 

 apparatus in such a manner that the refrigeration is apphed directly 

 to the material to be cooled, without making ice or using any 

 refrigerating medium ; and by this means he has succeeded, with the 

 apparatus just referred to as capable of producing five tons of ice 

 in twenty-four hours, in obtaining, during the same time and with 

 the same consumption of fuel, an effect equivalent to the production 

 of no less than fourteen tons of ice. This reduces the cost of the 

 work done very considerably below the estimate already given, and 

 the fact serves well to show what great benefit may be derived 

 from the judicious application of refrigerating apparatus. 



Among other purposes to which it has been proposed to apply 

 artificial refrigeration, is the cooling of the air in dwellings, and in 

 passenger ships passing through tropical regions;* and there are, no 

 doubt, many other cases in which it might be usefully employed. 



V. ON SOME KECENT SPECTEOSCOPIC KESEAKCHES. 



By William HuGGms, F.E.S., Hon. Sec. E.A.S. 



It is the intention of the writer to give in this article an account 

 of some of the more recent additions to our knowledge of the 

 heavenly bodies which have followed from the application to them 

 of that elegant and most searching method of analysis for which 

 science is laid under lasting obligation to Kirchhofi". 



The circumstance that in astronomy so large an amount of 

 new and important knowledge has been gained, will not appear 

 surprising when we consider how peculiarly spectrum analysis, 

 which enables the observer to be independent of his distance from 

 the source of light, and also of the length of time that the light has 

 been on its way to him, is adapted for an examination of the light 

 of the heavenly bodies, which are, for the most part, independent 

 sources of light of a high temperature. Indeed the light of the 

 sun, of the stars, of the nebulae, and of comets, was written over 

 with unread hieroglyphic characters, which, when the key was 

 furnished by the German physicist, revealed to us information, 

 such as it had appeared to man almost vain to hope ever to 

 obtain. 



Spectrum analysis, which consists in the skilled interpretation 

 of the minute peculiarities by which spectra are distinguished, and 



* Mr. Sliaiid, ' Society of Arts Journal,' xvii., 97. 



