BULLETIN 



OF THE 



INSTITUTE. 



VOL. 5. SALEM, MASS., FEB. AND MARCH, 1873. No. 2. 



One Dollar a Year in Advance. 10 Cents a Single Copy. 



REGULAR MEETING, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 1873. 



I Continued.] 



Mr. STEPHEN M. ALLEN made a communication on the 



ANCIENT AND MODERN THEORIES OF LIGHT, HEAT AND COLOR. 



Light, heat and color appeal to our senses from the 

 beginning to the end of life. These phenomena, so 

 closely allied, have for generations appeared alike myste- 

 rious to youth and age, to the simple child of nature 

 rand the leaders of scientific research. If any persons 

 have satisfied themselves fully as to the true cause of 

 either, they have transmitted no explanatory theory which 

 has stood the test of time. 



The discovery and uses of the spectroscope have for 

 the past five years taken the world by storm, and as a 

 natural consequence there have been greater changes in 

 the theories of light and color than for a century past. 

 The physicists of Europe and America, who employ the 

 spectroscope, claim that by its assistance light and color 

 may be employed to discover the primary elements ot 

 ESSEX INST. BULLETIN. v 2 



