PLEASANT WAYS IN SCIENCE. 



OXYGEN IN THE SUN. 



THE most promising result of solar research since Kirchhoff 

 in 1859 interpreted the dark lines of the sun's spectrum 

 has recently been announced from America. Interesting 

 in itself, the discovery just made is doubly interesting in 

 what it seems to promise in the future. Just as Kirchhoffs 

 great discovery, that a certain double dark line in the solar 

 spectrum is due to the vapour of sodium in the sun's atmo- 

 sphere, was but the first of a long series of results which the 

 spectroscopic analysis of the sun was to reveal, so the dis- 

 covery just announced that a certain important gas the 

 oxygen present in our air and the chief chemical consti- 

 tuent of water shows its presence in the sun by bright 

 lines instead of dark, will in all probability turn out to be 

 but the firstfruits of a new method of examining the solar 

 spectrum. As its author, Dr. Henry Draper, of New York, 

 remarks, further investigation in the direction he has pursued 

 will lead to the discovery of other elements in the sun, but 

 it was not " proper to conceal, for the sake of personal 

 advantage, the principle on which such researches are to 

 be conducted." It may well happen, though I anticipate 

 otherwise, that by thus at once describing his method of 

 observation, Dr. Draper may enable others to add to the 



