ABSTRACT
One of the most acute philosophers of the present century, a profound thinker who devoted his mind to the consideration of the mutual relations of the sciences, declared emphatically, not very many years ago, that all the people could know of the heavenly bodies must ever be confined to an acquaintance with their motions, and to such a limited acquaintance with their features as the telescope reveals in the less distant ones. The last few years have seen the dawn of a new science; and two branches of knowledge which formerly seemed far as the poles asunder-namely, astronomy and chemistry-have their interests united in this new science of celestial chemistry. The arm carrying the telescope is provided with a screw for clamping it in any desired position while the readings are taken. Matter for a very interesting chapter in the history of prismatic analysis has been furnished by the discovery of four new elements by means of the spectroscope.
