172 A CENTURY'S PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY. 



work, and on the publication of Kirchhoff's 

 explanation of the Fraunhofer lines in the solar 

 spectrum, he commenced to investigate the 

 spectra of the stars. Having constructed a suit- 

 able spectroscope, he commenced observations in 

 1862 in conjunction with his friend, William 

 Allen Miller, Professor of Chemistry in London. 

 He exhaustively investigated the two red stars, 

 Betelgeux and Aldebaran, ascertaining the exist- 

 ence in the former star of sodium, iron, calcium, 

 magnesium, and bismuth ; and in the latter star 

 the same elements, with the addition of tellurium, 

 antimony, and mercury. 



In 1863 Huggins made an attempt to photo- 

 graph the spectra of the stars, and, indeed, 

 obtained prints of Sirius and Capella, but no 

 lines were visible in them. In 1874 Draper of 

 New York obtained a photograph of the spectrum 

 of Vega, showing four lines. Two years later 

 Huggins again attacked the problem, and secured 

 a photograph of the spectrum of Vega, showing 

 seven strong lines. In 1879 he was enabled to 

 communicate satisfactory results of his work to 

 the Royal Society, and since then he has secured 

 many admirable representations. ID 1899 the 

 monumental work, ' An Atlas of Representative 

 Stellar Spectra/ the joint work of Sir William 

 and Lady Huggins, was published. 



