320 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



The brightest lines in the spectrum of this nitro-body are the 

 two sodium-lines ; they appear, however, not as in a quietly burn- 

 ing alcohol flame saturated with vapour of sodium, but strikingly 

 widened, so that frequently the space between them vanishes. So 

 far as the observations extend, this appears to be dependent on the 

 violence of the explosion. Also the more refrangible sodium-line is 

 always the most widened. 



Characteristic of the spectrum are two brilliant lines in the 

 green, which are indistinct on each side, and of which the 

 more refrangible is the more intense. Further, there are two 

 bright broad bands, striking in the red and orange, sharply defined 

 towards the red end, and dying off towards the blue. Besides 

 these lines and bands, we succeeded in measuring a faint streak in 

 the red, another in the green, and a faint but sharp line in the green. 

 Between the bright lines a continuous spectrum was present ; but 

 it could not be traced far beyond the green. 



The instantaneousness of the explosion of the pyroxyline ren- 

 dered extremely difficult the fixing upon the lines ; yet I believe 

 that a fair degree of certainty may be attributed to the following 

 numbers, as numerous and repeated measurements were effected : — 



Wave-length. 

 millionths of a millim. 



644-6 A faint streak. 



fi -.~o [ A broad band of light. 



Similar, but more faint. 



601-8 



589-5 



589*5 



nQQ.q \ The same; the very bright sodium-lines. 



572-8 A faint streak. 



568*7 A faint but sharply defined line. 



554*8 A very bright, broad but ill-defined line (aurora 



borealis 557*1). 

 550*4. A bright, broad, ill-defined line. 



Poggendorff's Annalen, 1873, No. 12, p. 641, 



DR. J. H. VON MADLER. 



On the 14th of March, 1874, one of the first of European astro- 

 nomers, Dr. Madler, Professor and Director of the Dorpat Obser- 

 vatory, entered into rest. His life had been one of ceaseless and 

 untiring activity, and he was well known for his general astrono- 

 mical labours ; but the work that will carry his name to posterity 

 perhaps more than any other is the Magypa SelenograjoMca, bearing 

 his name conjointly with that of Beer. Prom the announcement 

 of his death sent by his widow, Minna v. Madler, to his friends, we 

 learn that during the last sixteen months his sufferings were very 

 great from frequent attacks on his brain, to which he ultimately 

 succumbed when about completing his eightieth year. His works 

 were numerous ; and we fully enter into the feelings of the widow 

 in desiring, according to her own expression, "a blessing on his 

 works and peace to his ashes." 



