=^0 



NATURE 



[May i6, 189; 



certain stage of the evolution of suns and planets can be gathered 

 from an examination of a photograph of the spectrum of Bellatrix. 



Another case is afforded by a line at X 667. This is associated 

 with Dj in Briiggerite and Clevcite, but the yellow line has been 

 seen in Monazitc without K 667. It is almost certain, then, that 

 these two lines represent two gases. Certainty cannot be arrived 

 at till a larger quantity of gas has Ijeen obtained. 



.\gain. the red line at A 6575, close to C, referred to in my 

 previous communication, is seen both in Gummite and Broggeritc ; 

 but in one case (llummite) it is seen without D3, and in the other 

 with it, in one case (Briiggerite) without \ 614, and in the other 

 with it. The above conclusions hold here also. 



This line \ 614, (xissibly coincident with a chromospheric 

 line, has been recorded in (Jummiteand Brciggerite. It has been 

 seen a'j/A D, (in Bn^gerite) and without it (in Cummite). 



I have said enough to indicate that the jireliminary recon- 

 naissance suggests that the gas obtained from Brii^erite by my 

 metho<l is one of complex origin. 



I now procecil to show that the same conclusion holds goo<l for 

 the gases obtained by Profs. Ramsay and Cleve from Cleveite. 



h\n this pur[xise, as the final measures of the lines of the gas 

 as obtained from Cleveite by I'rofs. Kam.say and Cleve have not 

 yet been published, I take those given by Crookes,' and Cleve,- 

 as observed by Thalcn. 



These are as follows, omitting the yellow line : — 



On the New G\s OBTArsED kro.m Uraninite.' 



In my prcliminar)' note communicated to the Royal Si>ciely 

 on the 25lh ult. I gave the wave-lengths of the lines which had 

 been observed both at reduced and at atmospheric pressure in 

 the gas (or gases) prixluced by the method to which 1 then 

 referred of healing the mineral L'raninite (Hroggerite) in vacuo. 



As a short title, in future I shall term this the distillation 

 method. 



Since then the various photographs obtained have l)een reduced 

 and the wave-lengths of the lines in the structure spectra of 

 hydrogen observed beyond the region mapped by Hasselberg. 



I have further observed the spectra of other minerals besides 

 Uraninite for the pur|X)se of iletermining whether any of them 

 gave lines indicating the presence of the gas in Uraninite or of 

 other gases. 



I now give a table of the lines so far measured in the spectra 

 of 18 minerals between \K 3889 and 4580 R, the region in 

 which, with the plates employed, the photographic action is most 

 intense. 



Lines Photographed in the Spectra of Gases obtained from 

 various Minerals experimented upon up to May 6. 



Crookc- 



568.05 

 566-41 

 516-12 



500-81 

 480-63 



6677 



5048 

 5016 



4922 



4713-5 



The most definite and striking result so far obtained is that, in 

 the spectra of the minerals giving the yellow line, I have so far 

 examineil, I have never once seen the lines recorded by Crookes 

 and Thalen in the blue. This demonstrates that the gas obtained 

 from certain s|x;cimens of Cleveite by chemical methods is vastly 

 different from that obtained by my method from certain s])ecimens 

 of Broggerite ; and since, from the point of view of the blue lines, 

 the si)ectrum of the gas obtained from Cleveite is more complex 

 than that of Broggerite, the gas it.self cannot be more simple. 



Even the blue lines themselves, instead of appearing en bloc, 

 \-ary enormously in the .sun, the appearances bemg — 



4922 (4921 3) = 30 times 

 47I3(47I2'5> = iwice. 



These are not the only facts which can t>e adduced to suggest 

 that the gas from Cleveite is as complex as that from Broggerite. 

 But while, on the one hand, the simple nature of the g.ises 

 obtained by I'rofs. Ramsay and Cleve and l>y myself must be 

 given up, reas<ming on s|)ectroscopic lines; the observations I 

 have alreaily m.ade on several minerals indicate (hat the gases 

 omposing the mixtures are by no means the only ones we may 

 hope to obtain. 



This part of the inquiry will Ix.' more s|)ecially considered in a 

 subsc(]uent communication. 



I m.-iy remark in conclusion that in this preliminary inquiry 

 no attempt h.-is lieen made to se|«rate the |Kivsil>ly new gases 

 from the known fines which come tiver with them ; hence, the 

 lines arc in some c.-uses very dim, and the application of high 

 dispersion is im|)ossible. The wave-lengths, therefore, es|K'cialiy 

 in the visible s|x.'clrum, are approximations only ; but the view 

 that we are really dealing with gases ojierative in the vilar 

 atmosphere, like the helium which produces 1),, is strengthened 

 by the fact that of the 60 lines so far recorded .as new in the 

 various minerals examineil, alniut half occur near the wave- 

 lengths avsignefl to chromospheric lines in ^'oung*s table. I am 

 aware that most of the chromospheric lines have lieen recently 

 referrc<l to as due to iron, but I tielieve this result does not 

 defieml uixm direct com|ariv)ns, and it is entirely opfxiseil to 

 the conclusions lo l>e drawn from the work of the Italian 

 observers, as well as from my own. 



1 Natumk, vol, li. p. 5^1. 



* Comptes rrnJui, April 16, p. 835. 



NO. 1333, VOL. 52] 



• Bro.id hydrogen lines extend over these positions. 



U = lines noted frcmiently in the spectra of BrOgRerite. 



H =; i»lioto};raphed)}»y Hale. 



On this table I m.iy remark that, of the lines given in my paper 

 of .\pril 25, the tinul discussion has shown lliat the following 

 lines are hydrogen structure lines in the region lieyond ihut 

 mapped by llas.selberg : — 



\\ 4479, 4196, 4156, and 4152-5. 



The line 4368 is also oniitlcil from this list, as it has not Iieen 

 finally determined whether it coincides with a line of O. 



In the table, tiesides the \\ on Angstrom's and Rowland's 

 scale, I give lines which have been observed in the sun's chromo- 

 sphere and chrcmicled liy N'oung ; those photographed iliiringtlic 

 eclipse of 1K93 with a 6inih prismatic camera, liy Mr. I'owler, 

 anil those photographed with the same instrument at Kensington 

 in some stars of Cirouii III. of my classification in the constella- 

 tion of Orion. 



This table carries the matter of the relation of the new ga.ses to 



I star and stellar phenomena much further than I ventureil li> 

 suggest in my secoiul note. 



I We a))]x'ar to be in presence of the Tera cau^a, not of two or 

 three, but of many of the lines which, so far, have been classed 

 as "unknown " by students both of solar and stellar chemistry ; 

 and if this be confirmed, we are evidently in the presence of a 

 new order of gases of the highest importance to celestial 

 chemistry, though perhaps they may be of small pradic-tl value 

 to chemists, because their compounds and associ:tted elements 

 are, for the most iiarl, hidden deep in the earth's interior. 



'ITie facts that all the old terrestrial ga.ses, with the exception 

 • 'Ihinl Note. Hy J. N.jnnaii l.uckyir, CM., K.R.S. 



