May 6, 1880] 



NA TURE 



only elements under examination. And first with regard 

 to carbon and oxygen. Carbonic oxide burned in air 

 gives a flame possessing a continuous spectrum. A 

 mixture of carbonic oxide and oxygen burned from a 

 platinum-tipped safety-jet also gives a more or less 

 continuous spectrum, but the light of the spectrum has a 

 tendency to group itself in ill-defined ridges. Carbonic 

 oxide, however, ignited by the electric discharge in a 

 semi-vacuous tube, gives a bright sharp spectrum. This 

 spectrum was proved, by the simultaneous method of 

 observation, to be that of carbon plus the spectrum of 

 oxygen. With regard to carbon and sulphur almost the 

 same remarks may be made. Bisulphide of carbon 

 vapour burns in air with a bluish flame. Its spectrum 

 is continuous. Mixed with oxygen and burned at the 

 safety-jet, its flame still gives a continuous spectrum, 

 though more distinctly furrowed than in the case of car- 

 bonic oxide ; but when ignited by the electric current its 

 spectrum is well defined, and is that of carbon plus the 

 sulphur. That is to say, it is the spectrum of carbon 

 plus the spectrum that is obtained from vapour of sulphur 

 when ignited by the electric discharge in an otherwise 

 vacuous tube." 



" Having thus demonstrated that dissimilar compounds 

 containing carbon emit, when sufficiently ignited, similar 

 rays of light, I come to the conclusion that those rays are 

 characteristic of ignited carbon vapour, and that the 

 phenomena they give rise to on being refracted by a prism 

 is the spectrum of carbon." 



This question was next taken up by Morren. He 

 ■wrote' (in 1865) fifteen years ago : — 



" A la reception de cet intcressant et substantiel 

 Memoire, j'avoue que je ne regardai pas d'abord comme 

 fondi^e I'assertion de 1\I. Attfield. . . . 



" Je me suis done mis au travail avec la pensde pr^- 

 congue de combattre I'assertion emise par le savant 

 anglais ; mais pas du tout, il rifsulte au contraire des 

 experiences auxquelles je me suis livrif que M. Attfield a 

 raison, et que c'est bien la vapeur du carbone qui donne 

 le spectre indiqud plus haut. . . . 



" Si on fait bruler le cyanogfene au moyen du chalumeau 

 a deux courants, en faisant arriver au centre de la flamme 

 du cyanogene un courant d'oxygJ:ne tres-pur (cette con- 

 dition est indispensable), on voit se produire un des plus 

 beaux effets de combustion possible, et cette experience 

 est ccrtainement une des plus magnifiques qu'on puisse 

 realiser sur la combustion des gaz. 11 se produit, au milieu 

 de la flamme rosc-violatrc du cyanogene, une boule d'un 

 blanc vert (^boulissant qui rappelle la lumiere lilectrique 

 produite par le courant de la pile entre deux charbons de 

 cornue. Si le spectroscope est dirige sur cette brillantc 

 lumiere, on apergoit, avec une splendeur merveilleuse, le 

 meme spectre de la partie bleue des flamraes hydrocar- 

 bur^es. Ainsi done c'est du charbon seul, mais ^ I'lf tat de 

 vapeur, qui forme cette boule brilknte qui plus loin, par son 

 union avec I'oxygene, va passer a I'etat d'acid carbonique. 

 Du reste ce spectre n'est pas seul; avec lui on voit, 

 mais tres-eflacd, le spectre special du cyanogene, et 

 celui-ci tend de plus en plus a disparaicre Ji mesure que 

 I'oxygtne arrive avec plus d'abondance et brule de mieux 

 en mieux le cyanogene. Ouant au spectre de I'azote, on 

 ne I'apergoit pas dans cette vive lumiere. Le magnifique 

 dclat de ce beau spectre, le plus beau qu'il rn'ait dtd donne 

 de voir, permet de bien comprendre Faspect creuse et 

 ombrd avec une teinte croissante qu'on remarque dans 

 les parties qui n'ont pas de raies brillantes, et meme entre 

 ces raies.'' 



Four years later Dr. Watts devoted himself to this sub- 

 ject, and in 1869 his work was thus summarised by 

 himself : ^ — 



* Annales de Chhitte et de Physique^ 4 serie, t jme iv. p. 309, 312. 

 = Phil. Mag., October, 1869. 



"This spectrum [that consisting of the flutings in 

 question] may be obtained from the flame of any hydro- 

 carbon, though in many cases, owing to the faintness of 

 the spectrum, only some of the groups can be recognised. 

 In the flame of an ordinary Bunsen burner 8 and f are 

 easily seen, y and/ are much fainter, and the red group 

 cannot be detected. 



"This spectrum is proved to be that of carbon, inasmuch 

 as it can be obtained alike from compounds of carbon 

 with hydrogen, with nitrogen, with o.xygcn, with sulphur, 

 and with chlorine. I have obtained it, namely, from each 

 of the following compounds : — defiant gas, cyanogen, 

 carbonic oxide, naphthalin, carbonic disulphide, carbonic 

 tetrachloride, amylic alcohol, and marsh-gas." 



That these conclusions, successively arrived at by Att- 

 field, Morren, and Watts, are sound, I shall show in my 

 next notice. J. Norman Lockyer 



(To be continued) 



SCIENCE IN PARLIAMENT 



THE House of Commons is now complete ; all 

 the boroughs and counties have made their 

 choice, and the composition of the new Parliament has 

 been and will be criticised from many points of view. So 

 far as the interests of science and of what we conceive to 

 be good education are concerned, there is, we fear,little dif- 

 erence between the present House of Commons and its pre- 

 decessor ; just a thin ray of light athwart a cloud of dark- 

 ness, a tiny morsel of knowledge in a mass of ignorance- 

 This ignorance, however, we are bound to believe is not 

 wilful ; w^e must admit that our new rulers are willing to 

 be enlightened, unless in time they should shov,- them- 

 selves otherwise disposed. 



On this ground, as well as on others, it is to be 

 lamented that one of the most eminent and useful scien- 

 tific members of the House has lost his seat through 

 some local caprice. The absence of Sir John Lubbock 

 from the new Parliament is one we are sure every true 

 lover of science will deplore. Where there is so much 

 ignorance to be overcome, it seems to us we cannot 

 have too many representatives of science in Parliament ; 

 and we are sure all who desire to see science advanced in 

 this country would welcome any chance of getting Sir 

 John back to his old place. Such an opportunity has, 

 some may think almost providentially, presented itself in 

 the vacancy that' has occurred in the representation of 

 London University by the promotion of Mr. Lowe to 

 " another place." Several candidates have been proposed 

 for the vacant seat, but alongside of Sir John Lubbock 

 all must strike an impartial onlooker as singularly unsuit- 

 able. The "doctors" have been attempting to put in a 

 strong claim to have themselves specially represented, 

 supporting their cause, so far as London University is 

 concerned, by somewhat shaky statistics. But medicine 

 has no lack of friends in both Houses of Parliament ; the 

 claims which it has on the country are patent to all, and 

 it is, moreover, included under the wider region of science. 

 If the latter gets fair play from Government, medicine 

 need have no fear that her claims will be neglected. 

 Already are two Scottish universities represented by Dr. 

 Lyon PIayfair,'who is nothing if not medical. Not one 

 of our English universities has a man of science as 

 its representative, and it is surely important that 

 an institution in which science holds so prominent 



