ow a . e n " “gel Pua y = i he © Se Ah yA, Ana en ee ” ves 
Ae , > < 4 A — - f bf - 3 “ah a As — 
138 NATURE ~ [Dec. 26, 1872 
light can be converted into a chemical equivalent, this 
again into heat, heat into motion, and indeed a fixed 
quantity of one force always and only into an equivalent 
quantity of another. In like manner also the quantity of 
matter has remained unchanged from the beginning ; not 
the least particle or molecule can be annihilated or created 
out of nothing, and only in the transformation of perish- 
able bodies are the molecules formed into ever new com- 
binations. What we distinguish as natural forces are 
only movements of molecules, for the least particles 
of matter out of which bodies are composed are not inse- 
parably united to each other, but are loosely held together 
and in continuous whirling and undulatory motion ; 
according to the swiftness and width of undulation of 
the molecule will this motion of our nerves be regarded 
now as sound, now as heat, then as light or as colour. 
Moreover, the chemical union of the elements of matter, 
the attractive power of gravitation in all the bodies of the 
universe, are but varied forms of this universal motive 
force. The unity and permanency of substance with its 
two attributes, matter and force, and their innumerable 
modifications, which go to form the bodies of the universe, 
were in the first instance enunciated as a philosophical 
maxim by the great thinker Spinoza. Now it is es- 
tablished as a philosophic fact by means of exact measure 
and weight. 
Again, on the inner organisation of the system of the 
universe has unexampled light been thrown by the won- 
derful researches which were begun in 1859 by two men, 
united by the closest bonds of a friendship which bore 
rich fruit for science. After the light of the sun had, in 
the third decade of this century, been brought into the 
service of art by Nitpce and Daguerre, Bunsen and 
Kirchhoff * compelled it also to render service to chemis- 
try and astronomy. Like those magicians of the legend, 
who, through the power of their knowledge, compelled 
the spirits of the elements to disclose their most recon- 
dite secrets, the genius of these men compelled the rays 
of light imprisoned in the spectrum apparatus to make 
revelation of things in the world of stars which the 
curiosity of men had deemed for ever inaccessible. 
Already had Kirchhoff ascertained what terrestrial ele- 
ments were present in the sun’s atmosphere, and what 
were not; quite recently has it been discovered that 
there is even present in the suna substance (e/éwm) which 
hitherto has been unknown on the earth. Moreover also, 
the inner structure of the sun, the distribution of its in- 
candescent, liquid, and gaseous parts, its luminous and 
coloured envelope, the nature of its spots and protu- 
berances—all this is no longer a playground for fantastic 
imaginings, but the subject of exact research. Since the 
great eclipse of 1868, Lockyer and Janssen, Zéllner, Hug- 
gins, and Father Secchi have observed, day after day, 
storms, whirlwinds, flame-sheaves, outbursts of burning 
hydrogen to the height of 20,000 miles: thus has been 
developed an entirely new science—the meteorology of 
the sun. Moreover, on other obscure regions of the 
heavens, on the physical and chemical conditions, even 
on the laws of the movements of the fixed and double 
» stars, on nebulz and milky ways, on planets and comets, 
on zodiacal and northern lights, has spectrum analysis 
* In connection with this discovery it would have been a graceful act on the 
part of eur author to have referred to the names of Stokes and Stewart.—Ep. 
thrown its enlightening rays. No less by rigorous 
mathematical method, through which astronomy, even at 
an earlier period, had been brought to a certain amount — 
of perfection, has she in the most recent time enjoyed an 
unexpected triumph, by solving, through the researches 
of Schiaparelli, the riddle of the comets, in being able 
to recognise the identity of their nature with that of the 
swarms of shooting-stars whose remarkable brilliancy 
long ago made them universally known. 
(To be continued.) 
EXPLORATION OF THE SOUTH POLAR 
REGIONS 
IIL. 
At the conclusion of the last article the drifting sea- 
weed was referred to as an important element in 
enabling us to ascertain the state of the sea about the Ant- — 
arctic regions. Let us now see whether the conditions of — 
temperature, so far as they have yet been determined, are 
in harmony with the ideas already developed. By re- 
ducing the ascertained directions for all the months of aa 
the year to a mean, there is obtained for the maximum 
of the temperature a curve which coincides with the 
intersections of the following meridians and parallels of 
latitude :— 
33° S. lat. and 33° E. long. 
44° S. lat. and 65°E.long 
4 67 ; 
35 » 35 ” 6 ” ” 
2 Les 40 yy 47 68s, 
38 ” 43 ” 48 » SM 
39 ” 47 » 49 » TE ois 
40 ” 5° ” 50 ” 73 ” 
41 ” 5 5 ” 5 I ” 73 ” 
42 ” 60 ” 52 ” 74 
43 63 53 75» 
” ” | 
A glance at a map shows that this curve leads into the a 
midst of the ice-free field, and is only distorted somewhat 
from its regular course by Kerguelen Island. This curve © 
can be followed even as far as Macdonald Island, which ~ 
is of high importance, inasmuch as it can be proved from 
direct observation that a higher temperature of the water — 
exists in these regions, as Dr. Neumayer himself has wit- — 
nessed. When he, in December and January, 1856-57, — 
was Sailing about 53° S. lat., he proved from hourly obser- 
vations that there was an influx of a warm current between 
62° and 72° E. long. a 
With respect to the higher temperature in the Pacific — 
Ocean, it suffices to mention the circumstance that there ex- 
ists on the Falkland and Campbell Islands a richer vege- 
table and animal life than is the case on other islands in the 
same latitude of the hemisphere. The unusual mildness — 
of the regions is to be ascribed to the neighbourhood of 
the Australian continent, as well as to the prevailing 
west and north-west winds. If, on the other hand, a 
much poorer flora is found on Kerguelen Island than on : 
the Auckland Islands, and if we should be at first inclined 
to regard this as evidence against the milder influx of warm 
currents, it should not be forgotten that Kerguelen does — 
not enjoy the warming influence of a great continent, 
since it lies in the midst of the Indian Ocean, almost 
equidistant from the two nearest continents, and more than F 
sag the distance of the Auckland Islands from Austra- — 
ia. 
south from Cape Horn, the cachelot (Physeter macroce- 
phalus), which, it is known, seeks out the warmer waters, — 
is found in abundance, 
