a 
Oct. 27, 1870] 
NATURE 
SEZ 
disappeared, but the diffused white light still lingered, gradually 
becoming more and more limited in extent, though remaining 
equally pronounced, until 10.30 ; when it occupied the small seg- 
ment of the sky comprised within about 5° on each side of the 
north point of the horizon, and from 6° to 7° above it. 
Lamorna, Torquay, Oct. 24 W. PENGELLY 
x 
THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT ECLIPSE 
EXPEDITION 
PACT the last session of the Congress of the United States 
of America,an appropriation of 6,000/. was made for 
the observation of the Total Eclipse of the Sun, under the 
direction of Professor Benjamin Peirce, the Superintendent 
of the U.S. Coast Survey. This generous act of legis- 
lation was suggested by one of the ablest statesmen of 
America, the Hon. John A. Bingham, of Ohio, and passed 
both houses unanimously. 
An officer was immediately sent to examine the various 
places, and obtain all the local information which might 
be required to select the most favourable positions for 
observation. The expedition has been divided into two 
parties, each of which consists of about twelve persons. 
One party is under the immediate direction of Prof. Peirce, 
and will observe in Sicily ; and the other is under the 
direction of Prof. Winlock, the director of the Obser- 
vatory of Harvard University, and will observe in Spain. 
Almost all the astronomers of the expedition were upon 
the central path of the great eclipse which occurred in 
America in August 1869, so that they have already been 
under fire, and are prepared for the sudden outburst of 
the total obscuration. 
The observations for precision will be entrusted in each 
party to an experienced officer of the survey, who will be 
upon the ground at least a fortnight before the eclipse. 
He will have the instruments all properly mounted and 
protected, the time well observed, and the arrangements 
made so that the principal observers of the physical phe- 
nomena may find everything in readiness when they arrive. 
Their presence will not, therefore, be required till within a 
few days of the eclipse. The officers upon whom this 
duty has devolved are Mr. Schott and Mr. Dean, assistants 
of the Coast Survey. 
The spectroscopic observations have been chiefly 
arranged by Professor Winlock, assisted by Professors 
Young and Morton. New and peculiar methods have 
been prepared for preserving a record of the lines of the 
spectrum for subsequent measurement and discussion. 
The photographic preparations are varied and original. 
The party of Prof. Peirce will have photographic apparatus 
prepared by Mr. Rutherford of New York, with lenses 
especially ground for the purpose under his direction by 
Fitz of New York, and young Fitz will himself superin- 
tend this portion of the observations, The party of Prof. 
Winlock will have its photographic apparatus prepared, 
under the directions of the Professor, by Clarke, of Cam- 
bridge, and will use lenses ground by Clarke. Alvan 
Clarke, Jun., will also assist in these observations. Prof. 
Winlock’s new method of photographing the sun through 
a long tube will be used in a portion of this class of ob- 
servations. In both parties arrangements are made for 
long and short exposures in different instruments during 
the period of totality. 
The polariscopic observations will be made by Prof 
Pickering in the party of Prof. Winlock. 
General observations of the corona will be made by as 
many of the party as possible, and it is hoped that | 
Steinheil’s hand comet-seekers will be especially available 
for this class of observation. Hand spectroscopes will 
also be used by several of the party, and it is hoped that 
in the preparations for this portion of the service material 
assistance will be derived from Mr. Lockyer’s suggestions. 
It is worthy of notice that two of the ablest officers 
of Engineers of the United States’ Army have been de- 
tailed by the War Department to accompany the Ex- 
pedition. They are Major Abbott, whose name is familiar 
to hydraulic engineers through his connection with 
General Humphrey’s Monograph upon the Mississippi 
river, and Captain Ernst. BaP: 
Dk. W. ALLEN MILLER 
WE. have already referred to the lamented death of 
Dr. W. A. Miller, and now give a short sketch of 
his life. Dr. Miller was born at Ipswich in 1817, an | 
received part of his education in Merchant Taylo ”’ 
School. He obtained, however, his first insizht into 
chemistry in a school belonging to the Society of Friends, 
at Ackworth, in Yorkshire. At the age of fifteen he was 
apprenticed to his uncle, who was surgeon to the General 
Hospital at Birmingham, and at the age of twenty he 
entered King’s College, where (we quote from an obituary 
notice in the Chemzcal News) his knowledge of chemistry 
attracted the attention of Professor Daniell, who, during 
the illness of the laboratory assistant, engaged his services. 
In 1840 he visited Germany, and passed some time in 
Liebig’s laboratory at Giessen. In the same year he was 
appointed to the post of Demonstrator in the Labcratory 
of King’s College. In 1841 he became Assistant Lecturer 
to Professor Daniell, and also took his degree of M.D. in 
the University of London. He also assisted Professor 
Daniell in various scientific inquiries, and conducted the 
experiments on the electrolysis of saline compounds, his 
name being associated with that of Daniell in the paper 
that appeared in the PAzlosophical Transactions for 1844, 
In the following year he became a Fellow of the Royal 
Society, and on the death of Professor Daniell succeeded 
to the vacant chair. At this period he became greatly 
interested in the subject of spectrum analysis, in which he 
worked with great activity as an observer of the various 
phenomena which were then attracting the attention of 
the scientific world. He was a member of the Council of 
the Royal Society from 1848 to 1850 and from 1855 to 
1857, being elected treasurer in November 1861, thereby 
becoming vice-president of the society. About this time 
his highly-trained mind and great knowledge were utilised 
to the highest degree in a joint research with Mr. Huggins 
on the spectra of stars and nebule, and in this class of 
researches his loss will be as severely felt as it will be at 
King’s College, the Council Board of the Royal Society, 
and other places where his calm and sound judgment was 
conspicuous, 
Professor Miller received the degree of LL.D., Edin- 
burgh ; of D.C.L., Oxford; and of LL.D., Cambridge. 
He also received the gold medal of the Astronomical 
Society, in conjunction with Mr. Huggins. At the time 
of his death he was a member of the Royal Commission 
which is now considering the whole question of scientific 
instruction and the advancement of science. His con- 
tributions to scientific knowledge, beyond those we have 
mentioned, were not Jarge, his time being much taken up, 
as is the case with too many of our best scientific men, 
with teaching. His “ Elements of Chemistry” is a valuable 
work which has long been favourably known, and has 
gone through several editions. 
AUGUSTUS MATTHIESSEN 
ee sad death of Dr. Augustus Matthiessen, which we 
briefly referred to in a previous number, has bereft 
inglish chemical and physical science of one of the most 
arduous and successful workers who ever entered her 
ranks. Born January 1831, in London, he trom early 
youth upwards, manifested a great liking for chemistry, 
but it was not until he came of age that he entered upon 
its study in earnest at the University of Giessen, where 
he subsequently took his doctor’s degree, and aiterwards 
at Heidelberg, where, for nearly four years, he worked 
