A, W. Wright— Gases from the Meteorite of Feb. 12,1875. 47 
_ within it, as it is a familiar characteristic of iron, platinum and 
some other metals, that in the state of minute subdivision they 
take up large portions of gas by condensation. The gas thus 
fixed would be more easily liberated by heat than that really 
absorbed. This would explain the fact that the amount of 
earbon di-oxide given off was much greater at a low than ata 
high temperature, and that the percentage of the hydrogen in- 
creased, as was observed in all the trials, with an increase in the 
temperature to which the material was subjected. 
e spectrum of the gases was observed by means of a vac- 
uum-tube, of the kind ordinarily used for spectroscopic work, 
attached to the apparatus. As was to be expected, it consisted 
of the hydrogen and carbon spectra together, bearing a general 
resemblance to those of gases from iron meteorites, but differ- 
ing from them in the greater relative intensity of the parts due 
to carbon compounds. Ata few millimeters pressure, indeed, 
the hydrogen spectrum was almost overpowered by them, and 
was relatively weak. The three middle carbon bands, those in 
the yellow and green, were very bright, that in the green being 
most intense of all. In the broad part of the tube these con- 
stituted nearly the whole of the spectrum visible, the green 
hydrogen line being discernible with difficulty, and the others 
not at all. 
These are precisely the three bands observed in the spectrum 
One cannot help regretting that a comet like Donati’s should 
have departed into space just early enough to escape observa- 
on with the spectroscope. 
_The spectrum of bright lines or bands indicates that the gas 
€s out some light directly, in addition to that which it re- . 
cts. The most obvious, and also the most probable cause, for 
this luminosity is electricity. Certainly a disturbance of the 
electrical equilibrium would result from the heating effect of tlle 
