XXlll 



friend and neighbour Mr. (now Dr.) Huggins, that Miller assented to a pro- 

 posal made by Mr. Huggins that they should unite in carrying on a series of 

 experiments on the spectra of the heavenly bodies. Miller was at this time 

 engaged in an elaborate series of experiments which formed the subject of 

 a paper read before the Royal Society, 19th June, 1862, "On the Photo- 

 graphic Transparency of various bodies, and on the Photographic effects of 

 metallic and other Spectra obtained by means of the Electric Spark." 

 This paper is inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1862. 



The joint labours of Miller and Huggins were continued during about 

 two years ; and as the observations could only be made at night, they must 

 have told on the energies of a man who was so actively employed as 

 Miller in brain-work at College and elsewhere during the day. The first 

 results of their observations are given in a note on the lines in the spectra 

 of some of the fixed stars, dated February 1863 *, from which it appears 

 that a considerable time was devoted to the construction of apparatus 

 suited to this delicate branch of inquiry ; but they had at length 

 " succeeded in contriving an arrangement which has enabled them to view 

 the lines in the stellar spectra in much greater detail than has been figured 

 or described by any previous observer." They further add that, " during 

 the past twelve months, they have examined the spectra of the Moon, 

 Jupiter, and Mars, as well as of between thirty and forty stars, including 

 those of Arcturus, Castor, a Lyrse, Capella, and Procyon, some of the 

 principal lines of which they have measured approximative^. They have 

 also observed /3 and y Andromedse, a, j3, e, and rj Pegasi, Rigel, rj Ononis, 

 (3 Aurigse, Pollux, y Geminorum, a, y, and e Cygni, a Trianguli, e, £, and 

 r] Ursas Majoris, a, /3, y, e, and ij Cassiopeioe, and some others." When 

 their labours were sufficiently advanced, they embodied their results in a 

 memoir entitled " On the Spectra of some of the Fixed Stars," which was 

 published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1864. At a somewhat later 

 period there is a joint note on the spectrum of the variable star Alpha 

 Ononis, contained in the ' Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society,' vol. xxvi. ; and another joint note on the spectrum of a new star in 

 Corona borealis, in the ' Proceedings of the Royal Society,' vol. xv., dated 

 May 17, 1866. 



Messrs. Miller and Huggins, for their " conjoint discoveries in Astrono- 

 mical Physics," received each the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society ; and on the occasion of presenting these medals, the President, the 

 Rev. C. Pritchard, M.A., F.R.S., after referring to a former inquiry as to 

 "What is a sun?" remarked that the progress of science had led to the 

 further query, " What is a star?" " For the first dawning of a distinct 

 and intelligent reply to this question we are indebted to Messrs. Huggins 

 and Miller." * * * We find them associated " in the examination of the 

 spectra of stars by means of an admirable and newly contrived apparatus 

 which had required much thought and labour to construct. With this 

 * Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xii. p. ±±4. 



